WOW – what a ride!

This is one of the hilarious movies I have seen in recent times – I don’t ever recall laughing so much for 3 full hours.
The script is so expertly weaved from a simple story – not even an unique story, but the dialogues, timing and excellent supporting cast push Mumbai Xpress into ’star’osphere! Full Marks to Kamal for an original entertaining story.

Though I am a big Kamal fan, I didn’t like his last few comedies – they were just borderline … Pammal K Sambandam , Panchathantram, Vasool Raja MBBS.. maybe coz of the fact that they were not originals – but Mumbai Xpress is on the right track. This ranks as high as Micheal Madana Kamarajan, Kadala kadala and Saati Leelavathi.

One of the biggest concerns I had was Crazy Mohan was missing from the crew list. For Mumbai Xpress Kamal had taken up dialogues himself – Thankfully Kamal is a not a slouch in dialogs dept – he was on par with Crazy Mohan (whose dialogues range from kadi to silly to really hilarious) Very simple and elegant when delivered with perfect timing, highly effective.

Sidharth’s Cinematography is a big let down. This film is supposed to be an all-digital film. They had shot with a prosumer 24p camcorder Panasonic DVX100A ($3,500) – and it shows. The resolution was very bad, worst at times. It had bad composition, blown out highlights and a horrible green screening with loads of unnecessary f/x.

Raaja’s music was adequate, and so was Singeetham’s direction. This isn’t a shining example of a good digital film – but thankfully the cast keeps you fairly engaged with their antics, so you can try to turn a blind eye towards horrible cinematography.

Another interesting point was Kamal’s mention of ‘Dogme 95′ in one of his interviews. He said this was shot in the lines of ‘Dogme 95′ and was planning to apply for a compliance certificate. The interviewer wasn’t smart enough to point out that Mumbai Express does not qualify for a Dogme 95 certificate – no, not even close.

What is Dogme 95 ?
In 1995, a set of european filmmakers were sick of the direction film industry was going. Big artificial sets, elaborate musical score, full of special effects – but no soul. So they set out to cleanse the film industry of all impurity. Their set of rules were called “Dogme 95 rules”

1. No Special Effects
2. Only Handheld camera
3. No Special Lighting – only sunlight
4. No Sets, everything should be on location
5. No Music score – Music can be included if it is played during filming. That is, music and image should be captured simultaneously
6. Director should not be credited.
7. Linear story telling
8. ……..The last 2 I forgot

So if a film adheres to all these rules – then it is given a certificate ‘Dogme 95′ which can be proudly displayed. Mumbai Xpress doesnt qualify for even one of the rules. I guess Kamal was trying to say they didn’t do any special lighting and that they shot handheld most of the time (But they had used Crane shots liberally)

But it shows Kamal does know his art – and is a cut above the rest in the knowledge department

But all said and done – Mumbai Xpress is a wholesome family entertainer. Now, I am eagerly waiting to watch the Hindi one… can’t wait to see how Vijay Raaz performed in Pusupathy’s role.

**** 4/5