The measure of love
Oh Shakespeare! Now his playfully wicked A Midsummer’s Night Dream has been updated into a toss-off flick 10 Ml Love, a title which suggests a cough syrup prescription.
Directed by Sharat Katariya, this meandering milliletre stuff is just not up to the expertise required for the narration involving a carnival of characters. The director seems to have trouble whenever he has to fit in more than two or three people within a single frame. Expectedly, then, the various sub-strands of the story just don’t weave into anything resembling a tapestry towards its denouement. Chances are that you might remember just a few of its dramatis personae, five minutes after they’ve done their number. And you’ll clean forget the rest of the caboodle, each one with his or her own baggage of dilemmas.
Among the ones who have at least a smidgen of recall value, there’s this hoity-toity bride-to-be (Tara Sharma) who wants to elope with a not-so-well-to-do boy (Neil Bhoopalam). Meanwhile, the groom-to-be (Purab Kohli) gives out signals that he’s actually in love with his long-time confidante and occasional sex-partner (Koel Purie). Oh well, such is life, dearies.
Meanwhile, in a downbeat mohalla, a vendor (Rajat Kapur) of aphrodisiacs is so possessive of his considerably younger wife (Tisca Chopra) that he follows every move of hers as if she was Cleopatra. To pep up the tepid proceedings, the vendor’s ammi (Sarita Joshi, delightful as ever) recommends a love potion, which appears to be more potent than any pill in the market.
Subsidiary souls, like the troupe of ethnic entertainers, have their own egos and libidos to deal with. Consequently, the screenplay keeps playing hopscotch between the multitude of people, all of whom seem to be in desperate need for a shrink or an agony aunt.
Of the ensemble, Tisca Chopra and Rajat Kapur are impressive. The undeniably gifted Tara Sharma has a flair for comedy but could have been more deftly directed and photographed.
The roundelay nature of 10 Ml Love does employ some of its locations splendidly, like the aphrodisiac vendor’s mohalla home overlooking other old-worldly tenements. And yes, there’s another sliver of pleasure: it ends in a quick flash of 90 minutes. Thank you for the small mercy.
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