Mithya

Occasionally one gets lucky. On my way from Delhi to Bangalore last week I noticed that the airlines was offering a fabulous choice of films. I settled for Mithya (Hindi word for falsehood) - a movie I had missed when it was released in February 2008.Rajat Kapoor is a director who caught the cinema goers attention for his role as the pedophile in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (2001) - that was the year which also saw him doing Dil Chahta Hai. Tiny roles but impactful is how I would describe them. 2006 saw him doing the anti-hero in the film Corporate (doing a not so subtle version of Coke vs Pepsi cola war on the silver screen). Sagar Bellary's comedy Bheja Fry saw the talented trio Ranvir Sheorey, Vinay Pathak and Rajat Kapoor come together to create magic.Mithya has an ordinary and far fetched story written by Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla. But wat makes it work is the great combo of Sheorey and Kapoor. The concept is age old. The Don's look-alike is an ordinary person who is forced to replace the dead Don. Slick editing and some fabuolus acting by Sheorey is a good enough reason to watch this film. Naseeruddin Shah has sliver of an appearance and does not get a chance to show his talent. Neha Dhupia is an average actor struggling to retain that grade in her acting classes. And yet if you liked the slickness of Bheja Fry, you will love Mithya.My rating: *** out of 5