MUMBAI PSYCHO
At a press screening of the film, Apartment, the director Jag Mundhra addressed an audience that already knew that his new film is a copy of Hollywood film Single White Female; he said that this was not in the league of films that he known for, like Bawandar and Provoked (actually he is not known for his social commitment, if that’s what he meant), but it was all his own work, and that he stood by it.
Another director would not have the nerve to present such a film; Mundhra’s thick skin probably comes from a series of duds that he has made. He does sometimes pick up interesting subjects, but not a single memorable film among them.
Sadly, the movie he apes isn’t even so great that someone would want to remake it. And then, he adds nothing to it, just telling a boring story in a boringly flat style.
Tanushree Dutta plays Preeti, an air hostess, who buys an apartment, but finds the monthly installments tough to handle. Her boyfriend Karan (Rohit Roy) offers to move in and share the expense. But Preeti is a suspicious type, and when she finds him in the flat with a woman—they are standing in the living room, having an innocuous conversation—she flies into a rage and throws him out.
She then advertises for a flat mate and gets a demure salwar-kameez clad Neha (Neetu Chandra), whose has already been seen getting into a train, arriving in Mumbai and getting a job. A glimpse of her madness has also been seen in the train, so you already know she’s trouble. No suspense there.
Neha turns out to be a model tenant, she cleans and cooks, calls Preeti “didi” and waits up for dinner everyday. In the next apartment is a poet called Tanha (Anupam Kher) and his pet cat. Except for a watchman, nobody else is seen in the large building! Even when there are gunshots in the landing. Odd!
Anyway, when Tanha brings about reconciliation between Preeti and Karan, Neha starts acting like a psycho. There isn’t much of a build-up, no spooky dread creeping up on the viewer as the nice small-town girl turns into a monster. And the best Neetu Chandra can do by way of acting and dilate her eyes. The others don’t even strain a muscle.
There is no comment expected or even offered, about life in Mumbai, that compels people to live lonely, isolated lives and drives some of them to such desperate acts of possessiveness. Neha is given a back story and words like “bipolar disorder” thrown about, but it’s no go. He film is just not worth the effort of watching… wonder why people took the trouble of making it.
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