Mirzapur: The Movie Review

“Mirzapur’s throne can’t be inherited. It can’t be won through politics. It can only be captured through muscle power and retained through fear,” the baritone voiceover of Pankaj Tripathi’s baahubali-businessman Akhandanand Tripathi aka Kaleen bhaiyya welcomes the viewer back to the bullet-holed, blood-stained world of Mirzapur. The acclaimed Prime Video series, directed by Gurmeet Singh and created by Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna, gets a big-screen presentation in Mirzapur: The Movie. Given its genre, the film smartly steers clear of turning into a box office-desperate gorefest which plays up the high-points of the franchise for easy wins. It’s more composed and doesn’t resort to cheap callbacks. There is an attempt to showcase an offshoot chapter of the series, just that it drags through a bit too many pages.

Director: Gurmmeet Singh

Writer: Puneet Krishna

Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Divyenndu, Ali Fazal, Jitendra Kumar and Rasika Dugal

The Tripathis need to increase their business. Scheming Politician JP Yadav (Pramod Pathak) is nagging Akhandanand for party funds. The kingpin orders his pawns Guddu (Ali Fazal) and Babloo Pandit (new entrant Jitendra Kumar) to find a money-making deal. Enter a new character Babban Babua (Ravi Kishan), a Rajasthan-based baahubali who has a drugs consignment, which he had nicked off his partner, to sell. The series’ beloved, volatile prodigal son Munna (Divyenndu) makes a return too. He is still trying to score his father’s approval while he burns with jealousy against the Pandit brothers.

The movie doesn’t waste time in setting up the story. There are no quick recaps. Mirzapur: The Movie is for the fans of the franchise, the viewers who are well-versed with the swag and attributes of their favourite characters. It works better as an extended special episode than a big screen mass mayhem experience. Still, there is some assured storytelling at work here. Thankfully, the makers don’t resort to futile excesses for some quick bucks. The Mirzapur universe doesn’t go gun-crazy. With series’ creator Puneet Krishna returning to the writers’ table, the film regains the flowery, banter-y humour of seasons 1 and 2. The movie isn’t eager to impress and the fun bits feel earned. Some iconic dialogues make a comeback and there are new sharp retorts which are hoot-worthy. The film retains the Game of Thrones style storytelling of the Purvanchal crime empire as seen in the show. Deals are being made, conspiracies are being planned and alliances are being shifted as everybody covets for the throne of Mirzapur.

The issue is that the film bites more than it can chew. It opens up multiple threads and then struggles to tie them up tightly. With so many characters in the fray, some of them get only brief screen time. The rivalry and one-upmanship between Guddu and Munna make for an enjoyable watch. Ali Fazal as the former, steroid-addicted brute, is loads of fun. Jitendra Kumar as the new Babloo (the role was played by Vikrant Massey in the series) also brings certain wits to the character, and even though Divyenndu’s Munna gets enough of a presence you still can’t get enough of him.

Mirzapur chiefly gets run down by its runtime. At a duration of over 3 hours, the plotlines which started with promise are soon stretched thin. Some of them are clumsily resolved. The whole climax in Rajasthan brings the film out of the grounded grittiness of Eastern UP. A fish out of water, in sand. The performances and the memeable dialogues do the heavy lifting. Pankaj Tripathi’s Kaleen bhaiyya still remains the king of one-liners. Ravi Kishan smartly doesn’t fall for his social media fandom and plays the new addition of Babua with a necessary calmness.

That being said, the film does have its misses and often feels overwritten. The screenplay starts dragging and the unnecessary love song and an item number doesn’t help. But you can ignore the little slips because the characters are incessantly watchable. I can’t comment on the throne but the viewership of the film will probably be captured by the reputation of the series, it will be retained by its sharp, entertaining writing.