MARD KO DARD NAHI HOTA: Witty Comic Ride

24/03/2019

03/CR/Hindi/UA

Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (translation: The Man Who Feels No Pain) is a 2019 black comedy action movie, directed by Vasan Bala and produced by Ronnie Screwvala under his production house, RSVP. Starred by debutant Abhimanyu Dassani, Radhika Madan, Gulshan Devaiah and Mahesh Manjekar in pivotal roles. It won accolades from Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and standing ovation for 2018 Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival as well.

Official Trailer:-

Why "MARD KO DARD NAHI HOTA"?

* Trailer itself is intriguing. 

* From the production house, that gave different genre movies like Uri: The Surgical Strike, Sonchiriya, Kedarnath and Karwaan.

* Vasan Bala's first directorial release. His debut directorial, Peddlers (2012) is unreleased till now. He has co-written movies like Raman Raghav 2.0 and Bombay Velvet.

* Radhika Madan's second film (technically first but the release got pushed off) after a splendid performance in Vishal Bhardwaj's Pataka movie.

Check out this song:

+ves and -ves

+ Lead Actors

+ Direction and Screenplay

+ Action Choreography and DOP

+ Music and Background Score

- Story

- Repeated Gags

- Some lengthy portions in the second half

Plot:

Surya (Abhimanyu Dassani), who's infected with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, a rare disease, sees as his superpower and wants to be a Karate Man like Karate Mani (Gulshan Devaiah), later faces hurdles in the form of Jimmy (Gulshan Devaiah, in the dual role). Supri (Radhika Madan) joins him along and what happens next is the crux of the film.

BTS Still.

Radhika Madan (left), Abhimanyu Dassani (centre) and director Vasan Bala (right)

Performances:

* Debutant lead Abhimanyu Dassani as Surya did a good job. The childishness that the character requires, has delivered properly. His flexibility in action scenes is commendable.

* Radhika Madan as Supri was cool and stylish. Her subtle acting during the scenes with her mother was good. Her action scene was a treat to watch.

* Gulshan Devaiah as Jimmy and Karate Mani are one of the show-stealers' of this film. Both the characters demanded over-the-top psychotic cliche villain and drunkard master kinda guy, he portrayed with the ease.

* Mahesh Manjekar as Surya's grandfather is the next show-stealer of this film. An ultimate "guru" for his grandson to become a superhero, he portrayed it so nicely. His dialogues and some expressions have actually split the audiences into laughter.

* The kids who portrayed the childhood of Surya and Supri, too did a mesmerising performance, that actually gave an impact to the lead characters, to portray their characters.

A Still from the film.

Debutant Abhimanyu Dassani (on the frame)

Technical Aspects:

* Written and Directed by Vasan Bala. He did a good job in direction but his writing sometimes went weak. They were repeated gags, where after sometimes the audience didn't feel its requirement and bit lengthy scenes in the second half, which wasn't needed but wasn't boring as well. The story is short and simple, but it's the screenplay that worked the film well. Those over-the-top gimmicks, the narration part, those witty dialogues really was a plus point, for this film. And I guess this would be the first Hindi movie after the 2010s, to mention about Matunga and its people. In direction side, the structures of the scenes and the output that he required on the screen are fulfilled at its best.

* DOP by Jay. I. Patel, who previously worked for Raazi, did a good job in capturing the visuals of this film. The cinematography for the climax scene and the first scene in the theatre was the best shots of this film. Editing by Prerna Saigal did her job well.

* Stunt Choreography by Eric Jacobus was an asset of this film. The way he stylised the actions into hand-to-hand combat was equally convincing and seems real that everyone's getting hit.

* Music by Karan Kulkarni and Dipanjan Guha wasn't a standout album but was good for the film. The songs mostly were shot in a montage manner. The promotional song, "Rappan Rappi Rap" and "Nakhrewali" were more good from the album.

* Other technical aspects like DI, Sound Effects, Costume Designing were a major support for this film.

Final Verdict: Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota is a witty fun ride, which gives you a vibe of reading comic strips of comic books. 

#avmoviebuff rating: 3/5

* (strictly my opinion)