Maska (मस्का)

"Maska (मस्का)"

Watched Hindi movie 'Maska (मस्का)'. Directed by Neeraj Udhwani. Produced by Doris George, Seher Latif, Shivani Saran. Writing credits Ishita Moitra and Neeraj Udhwani. Cinematography Eeshit Narain. Music Raheja Akshay, Mickey McLeary, Ketan Sodha. It stars Manisha Koirala, Jawed Jaffri, Shirley Setia, Nikita Dutta and Prit Kamani in lead roles. Boman Irani makes a guest appearance. I watched this movie with Aditi, on Netflix, on 28th March 2020. The movie is about 1 hour 50 min long and was released in 2020.

Romi is son of Diana and Late Rustom, Parsi bakers and owners of Irani cafè. Diana wants Rumi to take over the cafè but Romi wants to become an actor. It's a fight between Bun Maska and acting.

Will he succeed in acting? Will he run the cafè? What will he succeed in? What will he choose?

The story is not new. Old Vs New theme is not new. Here the story has the back drop if Irani cafè. It's steeped in Parsi culture. The typical Mumbai Parsi community and Parsi gujarati language along with old South Mumbai give it a nostalgic feeling. Two lady protagonists are representation of the dilemma that Romi is facing. 

The movie starts on a promising note, but about half way it starts to wobble. The pace becomes uneven and story slides down considerably. The end appears hasty. The change of heart appears sudden. Director doesn't reap rewards of the good work done in the beginning. 

Manisha Koirala, as Diana, does a good job as typical old Parsi lady. Jawed Jafri, as dead Rustom, does well in his limited role too. Nikita plays the role of wannabe heroin fervently. Shirley, as Persis, looks cute, but needs to concentrate more on acting. Her hairstyle for the film is awful. Prit, as Romi, looks confused, acts confused. Not sure if it's the actor or the act. But nevertheless he needs to improve. 

Except the last song, you don't remember the music. Cinematography is good. It takes you to night time South Mumbai and Irani cafè. 

Watch if you have nothing better to do during lock down.