| Maan Gaye
Mughall-E-Azam Movie
Review |
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Music :
Anu Malik |
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Lyrics :
Sanjay Chhel |
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Direction :
Sanjay Chhel |
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Producer :
Ganesh
Jain, Ratan Jain |
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Leading Cast :
Mallika Sherawat, Rahul Bose, Paresh
Rawal, Kay Kay Menon, |
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Pawan Malhotra, Zakir Hussain |
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Maan Gaye Sanjay Chhel. So discreetly have you
filched the plot of your movie from a Hollywood
comedy without letting anyone get a wind of it.
‘To Be Or Not To Be’, that’s the name of the less
known Hollywood classic about a bunch of actors in
the Nazi-occupied Poland who use their acting
talents to fool the German oppressors. The movie was
first made in 1942 and its remake (starring the ever
hilarious Mel Brooks) was made in 1983. Not only
does Chhel steal the film’s basic plot, he even
copy-pastes some of the scenes exactly as they were. |
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In Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam, the changes Chhel makes
are only superficial. The Nazis are replaced by
terrorists plotting to bomb-blast Mumbai. The
theatre company stays as it is – with its
over-the-top leading man (Paresh Rawal) and his
young and attractive wife (Mallika Sherawat). The
Polish pilot of the original here becomes a RAW
agent (Rahul Bose), while Dawood Ibrahim replaces
none other than the Fuehrer himself.
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The film is set in Goa of 1993 when terrorists are
plotting to bomb-blast Mumbai. In a small Goan town is a
theatre company helmed by Uday Shankar Mazumdar (Rawal) and
his wife Shabnam (Sherawat). One of the regulars in the
audience is Arjun (Rahul Bose) who is a RAW agent and has a
crush on Shabnam.
Things take a turn when Arjun gets to know of a deadly
terrorist plan and takes the help of the theatre company’s
actors to foil it.
‘Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam’ offers nothing more than heaps of
juvenile humour, some tortuous songs and, most of all, lousy
performances by almost everyone in the cast. Rahul Bose
looks awkward speaking Hindi and doesn’t do much else than
fondle Mallika or persuade Paresh throughout the film.
Paresh Rawal is not in form this time round. Mallika
Sherawat does what she’s known for – flash her cleavage,
kiss her co-star, and do some booty shakin’. Kay Kay Menon
(as the ghazal singer and a double agent) does hold your
interest for a while, but his character is soon bumped off.
What’s most shocking about ‘Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam’ is how
shamelessly it steals from ‘To Be Or Not To Be’. |
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Whenever Paresh Rawal says his dialogues Jab Jab
Zameen-e-Hindustan on stage, Rahul Bose (in the
audience) stands up and walks to meet Mallika
backstage. Exactly the same thing happens in the
original movie, where the dialogue was “To Be Or Not
To Be”.
Another example: There is a scene where Paresh Rawal
guises himself as a ghazal singer with a fake |
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beard and penetrates into the network of a local
underworld gangster. However, the gangster comes to know
that the real ghazal singer (Kay Kay Menon) is actually dead
and to catch the imposter he puts Paresh in the same room
where Menon’s dead body is kept. Finding himself in a
potentially lethal situation, Paresh hits on an ingenious
idea. He shaves the dead singer’s beard and pastes a fake
beard on his (dead body’s) face. So when the gangster
confronts the two to figure out who’s real, Paresh gets away
because the dead singer’s beard turns out to be fake.
Such blatant plagiarism only goes to show how much
“creative” the director of ‘Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam’ is.
Even if we cut Chhel some flak (because almost everyone else
in Bollywood is copying), he doesn’t deserve to be spared
for making make such a hodgepodge of what was a superb
comedy with memorable performances.
This rehash is just a torture. |
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Rating: 0.5/5 |
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