All audience reviews of Manmarziyaan

Frankly Anurag Kashyap might have as well called it Punjab Velvet. Confused girl falls in love with confused boy who then gets married to a confused suitor. The story is dragged on an on by a confused director who is also the confused writer of this movie.
The regular Anurag Kashyap elements are full on display here too. In your face sexuality and comic moments around it. Sarcastic dark humor though you will have to search hard for it.
The quality of screenplay is so third class that it is at best Who Saat Din meets Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam meets the dark story telling of Anurag Kashyap.
The movie is about a love story which is not to find a happy ending and another one which does. Now which one falls where you got to figure that out yourself by watching it because I do not give spoilers.
The movie has good elements in performances of Tapsee and Abhishek. Vicky Kaushal is royally wasted by the director.
The movie does not have five moments which you will remember five minutes after walking out of the theater. Frankly the two scenes of sarcastic exchanges between Roby’s mother and the man Friday servant had more value.
Somehow the gap between Anurag Kashyap’s super hyped image and what he delivers on screen is increasing and this movie is only another example of that trend. The man who gave us Wasseypur and DevD is clearly confused and lost in this one.
Given the quality of its characters,screenplay and direction Kashyap should have called it Punjab Velvet.
Stay away.
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Manmarziyaan, a love story by Anurag Kashyap. Not only to make that statement sound less oxymoronic but also to showcase it with flying colours, is a feat. The movie throughout its course dwelves in and out through intricately carved musical sequences and acting prowess'.



Anurag Kashyap, the helmsman, sidelines himself and let's the story take the centre stage in his vivid tryst with cinema. The story by Kanika Dhillon has been beautifully sketched and every character has been carved out in a meticulous manner. Rumi (Taapsee Pannu) is a free-spirited, vivacious young woman and Vicky (Vicky Kaushal), a young man waiting for his music break are in love and they can’t stay out of the bedroom. When they’re caught red handed by Rumi’s family, pressure builds up to get married. But Vicky has cold feet and keeps avoiding Rumi's request to bring his parents over and ask her hand in marriage. Eventually, she gives up on him and agrees to an arranged marriage. That's when Robbie (Abhishek Bachchan), a banker enters the proverbial love triangle. What happens next, forms the crux of the story.



Kashyap is known for his abilities to take out the best out of his actors and he doesn't disappoint this time round as well. The first half depicts Kaushal and Taapsee in their heightened and impulsive glory whereas Abhishek Bachchan appears to be a bystander. Although, in the second half Abhishek Bachchan announces himself with authority and valour and shines through. Abhishek Bachchan with his subtle movements and gradual noticeable stares and Vicky Kaushal with his confused wit and innocence win you over. Taapsee is a stand out performer through the course of the movie where she portrays the internal dilemma, vents out her frustration through rants and makes love unconditionally. The performances by the trio were impeccably sound but also the ensemble cast did not fail to make it's mark. Saurabh Sachdeva and Abdul Qadir Amin in their roles as Kaka ji and Samar respectively bring natural humour through crafted dialogues and colloquial come-backs.



Kashyap drives you through a modern day love story through the terrains of Amritsar and Kashmir. One may argue that Kashyap did not quite explore Kashmir as romantic's eyes might have. He explored the beautiful landscape of Kashmir through desperation and weeps and wails and still all of it made complete sense. That is the genius of a director as Anurag Kashyap. Although, Kashyap too falters through the second half of the film. While exploring the layers of love and everything else the course of the movie seems to run long and gradually turns chewy and tiring. At two hours and thirty six minutes the movie streches the catapult far too long and checks the audience's threshold to patiently wait for the climax.



All things null, the music by Amit Trivedi is the star of the film. The beats, the notes, the lyrics by Shelle, the background score and the eventual composition is flawless. Music is the core of 'Manmarziyaan' and glues the entire movie together. All songs have been very well placed and enhance the feel of this colourful, layered showcase of love. 'Halla' has been picturised in quintessential Kashyap format and is breath of new air in the genre of love story.



The movie is neither a milestone movie nor the best that Kashyap has made but it discovers the new romantics in an impeccable manner. It showcases realist drama, desperation, heartbreak, confusion, love, lust and commitment and these emotions alongside the setting connects with the millennials instantly. 'Manmarziyaan' is a contemporary and an unfamiliar affair that the industry has had with age old love triangles and love stories.

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Whether it's Dev D, Gangs Of Wasseypur 1and 2 or Raman Raghav, there is rarely an Anurag Kashyap film that you have stepped out of the theatre feeling what you are most likely to feel after watching Manmarziyaan.
It is not easy to say a love story in Bollywood and keep it fresh, given the number and variety of love stories we churn out every year. Manmarziyaan does not claim to be a story that you have not heard before, but it is the treatment of the film that does the magic.
The story is pretty straightforward and is almost everything that you have seen in the trailer. Two wild children Rumi and Vicky are a high on hormones couple. Vicky loves Rumi passionately enought to create a ruckus when her marriage is fixed but not brave enough to take the responsibility. He is ok about running away but does not know what is to happen after that. He is lazy, a little bit of a coward and inherently flawed. In fact all the characters in the film are inherently flawed but so real that you can't help but be a part of this journey. The star of the film is definitely Tapsee Pannu who not only my has the most amount of screen presence, but also the meatiest of the roles that she does perfect justice to. She is very much a wild child bullet riding sardarni from Amritsar but as far from being a stereotype as possible. Her character is not meant to lovable and she is not, but you can't help but see the story from her angle and be a part of all her wrong decisions without having the heart to judge her.
The third angle of this messy romance is Robbie played by Abhishek Bachchan who is making quite the comeback with his film. His is perhaps the trickiest roles as it is easy to consider his stable and level headed personality as boring in comparison to the colourful and vivacious Rumi and Vicky. But again, Anurag Kashyap makes sure that doesn't happen and makes his character much more desirable than we expect the third angle in a triangle to be. Performance wise he is probably a tone more dramatic than the amazingly real Tapsee and Vicky, but it is not something that is too much of a hiccup.
Talking about the elephant in the room, yes this perhaps the most un-Anurag Kashyap film of Anurag Kashyap. There are no guns being fired, abuses being hurled or uncomfortable sex being had. In fact, he has cautiously avoided all the tropes like dark lighting and unconventional camera angles that we commonly associate with Anurag Kashyap. It is probably his way of saying that he is anything but a stereotype and he can make a love story as convincingly he can make a Gangs of Wasseypur and applause must be reserved for that. But even though the stereotypes are not there, the Anurag Kashyap style is very much there. One of the most cinematic part of the film is the frequent appearance of two twin sisters who just dance in the background. This simple manages to convey so much with so little, which is a classic Anurag Kashyap. That and the attention to details are the only thing that reminds you that it is an Anurag Kashyap film
Talking about this film would be incomplete without talking about Amit Trivedi's hauntingly beautiful music. It's not just the melody or the lyrics, but the music itself is a character in itself.

In conclusion, Manmarziyaan might remind you of a little bit of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam or Tanu weds Manu in bits, but is perhaps the most real yet cinematic take on modern messy romances that Bollywood has ever come up with. Definitely a must watch. less