Mirzya Movie Review: Beauty Without A Soul

Though the Indian audience is much aware about Romeo and Juliet, not many know the story of Mirza Sahiban, a Punjabi folklore about star-crossed lovers, whose lives end in tragedy and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who has never tackled a love story before, decides to use this legend for launching Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher in Mirzya.

Mehra's film tackles the same love story in two different eras- one is of an ancient time when warriors rode on horseback and settled their disputes with bows and arrows and the second story set in an contemporary age where bikes have replaced horses and guns have replaced bows and arrows. Mohnish (Harshvardhan Kapoor) and Suchitra (Kher) had been childhood sweethearts before a tragedy ripped them apart and years later, when they run into each other, flames are rekindled though Suchitra is engaged to a prince and Mohnish (who now calls himself Adil Mirza) is a mere stable boy hired to teach 'madam' to ride a horse. Will the star crossed lovers live happily ever after or will they have a tragic ending like Sahiban Mirza? Watch the film to find out...

Harshvardhan Kapoor, who makes his debut with this film, is blessed with the same raw charm that his father had during his 'Lakhan' days, though Kapoor Jr has learned to temper the charm with subtlety unlike his boisterous father. Harsh also bears an uncanny resemblance to his father and if only he could work on his dialogue delivery a bit, we would have loved him more for it. Kher is quite easy on the eyes and has an exotic aura about her, which proves to be the perfect foil for Harsh's brooding and raw intensity. Actors Anjali Patil,Art Malik (remember the bad guy from True Lies?) and Anuj Choudhry have lent able support to the lead cast.

As for the film itself, one thing must be said that it is a visually delightful fare. The opening sequence is so breath-takingly beautiful that you will end up reminding yourself to inhale and exhale. The cinematography and camera-work is of the kind we have not seen in a Bollywood film since a long time.

But unfortunately, that is not all that is required to make a good film. Though the technical aspects are sound and the lead actors have done a decent job, there is no denying the fact that there is zero chemistry between the two. Plus, the pace of the film is so slow that even fans of love stories might be tempted to steal glances at their wristwatches. If that was not all, the plot is so insufferably predictable (we have been seeing films where the rich girl falls for the poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks in films since the black and white era) and done to death that irrespective of how beautiful the film looks, you hardly connect with it at all.

If you want to be dazzled with the technical aspects of the film and are curious to see how the newbies have performed, Mirzya could be given a shot, but do not expect anything as far as story and narrative goes...