December 10, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Film: Mirch

Director: Vinay Shukla

Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Boman Irani, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav, Shahana Goswami, Arunoday Singh

Genre: Social

Rating: ***1/2

Seldom is a film made in Bollywood which provokes us to put on our thinking caps. Vinay Shukla has been able to achieve just that with his latest release Mirch. A film made for the contemporary audience, Mirch takes you on a journey inside a modern womans life, especially her mind, as it raises issues such as a womans sexuality and gender equality in our society.

Mirch narrates the story of Manav, a budding filmmaker who faces flak from his seniors in the film industry but is determined to make a film which will take the industry by storm. It is then that Manav comes up with a story based on the classic Panchatantra. Manavs film is a clubbing of four stories, all of which have sex as its central subject. What will you do if you catch your wife red handed in bed with another man? Will you allow her to come out of the incident without being affected? This is the question that Manav raises through his first film.

The story of Mirch is a combination of four stories, all of them inspired from the Panchatantra, and all of them relying high on eroticism. Raima Sen and Konkona Sen Sharma impress as the women who have a mind of their own and who do not shy away from flaunting their bodies in front of men who they like, as also in front of the movie cameras. When it comes to Vinay Shukla, people can trust the actor turned director to make a masterpiece out of a small budget film too!

--Sampurn Wire