Mithai - Movie Review

'Mithai', starring Rahul Ramakrishna and Priyadarshi, hit the cinemas this Friday. Let's find out what works and what doesn't for this dark comedy.

Story:

Sai (Rahul Ramakrishna) loses his job when his frustrated boss fires him for indiscipline and inefficiency. He dreams big and wants to become a Steve Jobs. Jani (Priyadarshi) is his only best friend for life.

All hell breaks loose when Sai loses the necklace he bought to gift his girlfriend. He has to find the thief who stole it in just three days if he has to get married smoothly. He and Jani embark on a long journey to trace the thief. In this process, they get the help of Dude (Bhushan) and Deepthi (Swetha Varma).

Can the thief be found? What is the motive of the thief to steal the necklace? Answers to these are found in the second half.

Analysis:

In one of the scenes, a character describes Donald Trump and North Korea's PM Kim Jung-un as monkeys. Immediately, another character has a short dream in which the two leaders are seen as naked kids. They urinate on the camera because they are stupid kids. The dream is over. Every character in the scene is either frustrated or meaningless in this scene. This scene captures the essence of the lengthy and pointless showreel called 'Mithai'.  

The way the writer-director Prasanth Kumar etches the characters is confusing. It's as if they have bipolar disorder. Their moods are inconsistent, their language is incoherent. For example, Rahul Ramakrishna's character cries like a baby this minute and dances merrily a minute later!

They say 'thala' and 'thoka', you know. The film has got neither head nor tail. We never understand whether the troubles of Sai and Jani are big or small. Are they worried? Are they frustrated? Are they in their senses? Or are they simply being stupid because they are drunkards?

In one scene, they behave as if it's the end of the world if they don't do something in 24 hours. In the next scene, they are chilled out; they dance, they hug, they laugh, they drink. The entire film is in this tone. Just imagine. Only the degree of madness keeps fluctuating.

Now and then, weird characters (like those played by Kamal Kamaraju, Ravi Varma, Aditi Myakal and Swetha Varma) enter the screen to confuse the audience even more. Their language, their behaviour - nothing makes much sense.

It all ends in a silly climax with an okayish twist and a preachy scene. By then, the journey of the duo beats the sh*t out of the audience.

Between Priyadarshi and Rahul, the latter scores marks. He is a fine actor. Priyadarshi seems to be sarcastic rather than empathetic. He is over-rated for sure. The other actors don't make a mark. Bhushan gives an affected performance.
 
The one noteworthy feature of the film has to be Vivek Sagar's music. 'The Liberation Song' and 'Thappukokuraa' are very good, while the BGM is the outlier with its quality. Ravi Varman's cinematography is ordinary, while Garry BH's editing could have been better.

Bottom line: 'Mithai'is a pointless comedy that throws up a set of meaningless characters around the main leads. A movie that falters with reckless scenes. The Hyderabadi slang and the music are the only things that it gets right.