December 17, 2010 : Film : Mirch
Director: Vinay Shukla
Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Shreyas Talpade, Boman Irani, Shahana Goswami, Arunoday Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Mahie Gill, Sushant Singh
Genre: Drama
Rating: **1/2
What can you say about a movie which has powerhouse performers like Konkona Sen Sharma and Boman Irani and an equally good director like Vinay Shukla, who being an actor himself knows the nuances of the profession. People who go by trailers and posters, wanting to watch Mirch only for the erotic content which has been promoted so far are in for a surprise. The director tries to raise the issue of gender equality through the sexual encounters that his female leads have in the film and therefore the story of Mirch too is framed that way.
However, the point where Vinay Shukla fails miserably is that he shows a female being equal to her male counterpart only where sex is concerned. Yes, we know that cheating is in a man’s blood, but Mirch shows women who very expertly cheat on their husbands and come out unscathed in the act.
The story is a combination of four films, the scripts of which have been penned by a budding filmmaker. This filmmaker takes inspiration from the fiction series Panchatantra to write stories which have sex and eroticism as their prime content. And it is through the sexual equality that Vinay Shukla has tried to deal with the issue of gender equality through Mirch.
