Film: Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota
Cast: Abhimanyu Dassani, Radhika Madan, Gulshan Devaiah, Mahesh Manjrekar, Jimit Trivedi
Director: Vasan Bala
OUCH!!
'Har mind-blowing kahani ke picche naa kuch bahut bure decisions hote hain,' quips Surya (debutante Abhimanyu Dassani) in Mard Ko Dard Nai Hota’s opening shot. ‘It's a challenge’ song from Chiranjeevi's 1992 potboiler Aaj Ka Goonda Raaj plays during the opening credits, and that instant it’s clear – the film is an ode to Ryan Reynold’s sarcastic action-comedy Deadpool infused with Bollywood tadka. And director Vasan Bala proved us right by the time the film crossed the finishing line, just like the post-credits in Marvel universe (FYI: Deadpool is MU’s part), Mard Ko.. had the same!
[caption id="attachment_120122" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Abhimanyu Dassani and Radhika Madan in a still from Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota[/caption]
Yesteryear actress Bhagyashree’s son Abhimanyu couldn’t have picked a better film for his foray into the Bollywood. Not riding on the conventional good-looks criteria, the boy opted for a whacky story, targeting today’s youth desperately seeking out fresh content. Surya (Abhimanyu) is a kid who has a rare condition of Congenital Insensitivity to pain, i.e, this mard can't feel pain, apart, he does feel orgasms!
The film’s major first-half chunk is dedicated to Surya’s childhood days where he is raised by his ‘Aajoba’ aka grandfather (Mahesh Manjrekar) who has the best way to help the young boy deal with his rare illness. Aajoba encourages Surya to watch stories of heroism and courage from the '70s Kung Fu classics like Enter The Dragon to Geraftaar on VHS tapes. The biggest learning however remains, Surya is taught to say ‘Oouch’ whenever a punch lands his way or he hurts himself because he literally doesn’t know how it feels to be in pain even if he is profusely bleeding!
[caption id="attachment_120138" align="aligncenter" width="647"]
Stills from Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota[/caption]
In this process, two incredible things happen, a young Surya comes across a 100 man fight video featuring a one-legged The Karate Man aka Mani (Gulshan Devaiah) and he meets Supri aka Supriya (Radhika Madan), the only friend who stands up for Surya in school against the bullies but fails to raise her voice against her abusive father. Fate follows, and the two, part ways, only to meet as grown-ups in a series of hilarious circumstances.
An ode to the cinema of the 70s and 80s, the film gathers pace in second half with the introduction of 'Cliched psychotic villain' played by Gulshan Devaiah who is in a double role (The Karata Man Mani) and the antagonist Jimmy. When all these characters meet in Surya ki jawaani, what follows is a laughter riot, without revealing much of the storyline.
Abhimanyu is the star kid to watch out for. With no false notes in his performances, his rigorous training of a year-long in martial arts will help him establish him as an action star. He also gets to 'distract' the audience from ‘kicking some ass’ with a shirt-dropping scene. Abhimanyu’s next few films will set the tone of his career, because if the debut is this smashing, the boy has a long way to go.
[caption id="attachment_225517" align="aligncenter" width="647"]
Stills from Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota[/caption]
For the ones who are unaware, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota was supposed to be Radhika’s debut film but Pataakha already introduced us to this talented actress. In Pataakha, we saw her boisterous personality and crude lingo winning accolades, but here her punches and kicks do all the talking. She is vulnerable but doesn’t mind beating the shit of the gundas and mind you, she is good!
Double the riot on screen is Gulshan Devaiah in a double role. Be it the evil Jimmy or the drunken Mani (The Karate Man), he is all things quirky, sassy and applaud-worthy in every scene he pops up on celluloid. Director Vasan Bala needs to be thanked for casting Mahesh Manjrekar in a film where his craft is given the space to shine and along with an equally terrific Jimit Trivedi (102 Not Out fame) as Surya's father, the duo is killing it like there is no tomorrow.
One can safely say that Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota is a homegrown martial arts film, served with dollops of zany humour and narrated in a comic book format. Special mention to Eric Jacobus, Prateek Parmar and Dennis Ruel for choreographing the brilliant action scenes, but few slo-mo action sequences go a bit overboard and dramatic. Jay Patel's cinematography plays with grim and sunny colour palette deftly.
[caption id="attachment_227879" align="aligncenter" width="1280"]
Abhimanyu Dassani and Radhika Madan[/caption]
Despite the climax being the high-point of the film, great writing, and funny dialogues, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota is dragged back by its pace, a 2 hour 17-minute runtime, which needed a bit chop-chop on the edit table. However, one cannot take away from the fact the Vasan managed to create a mad, bizarre, eccentric, and even absurd world which was nothing less but entertaining.
In Ryan Reynolds’ iconic Deadpool style, “Daddy Needs to Express Some Rage” equals to Abhimanyu's firm belief "Paap Ko Jalaa Ke Raakh Kar Doonga!” You won't be able to resist mouthing OUCH… kyunki har mard ko has has ke dard hoga as they will watch the film!
PeepingMoon.com gives 3.5 moons to the film!
.jpg)
