Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Explained

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Director:Vishal Bhardwaj
Producer:Fox Star Studios
Vishal Bhardwaj
Starring:Pankaj Kapur
Imran Khan
Anushka Sharma
Shabana Azmi
Editing:A. Sreekar Prasad
Music:Vishal Bhardwaj
Distributor:Fox Star Studios
Country:India
Language:Hindi
Budget:[1] [2]
Gross: (Domestic gross)

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language satirical black comedy film directed, co-written, co-produced, and composed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan and Anushka Sharma in the titular roles, while Shabana Azmi and Arya Babbar play supporting roles. The film was released worldwide on 11 January 2013.

Plot

The film tells the story of three individuals, Harphool Singh Mandola a.k.a. Harry, his daughter Bijlee Mandola, and Hukum Singh Matru a.k.a. 'Matru'. Harry is a wealthy, cynical businessman who dreams of turning the Mandola village into an example of his success. However, this dream can only be realized if the villagers agree to sell their land to the government at low rates so that the land can be converted into a Special Economic Zone.

Harry is a drunkard. He is normally a shrewd, sophisticated and composed individual, but whenever drunk, he turns into an advocate of equality and betterment of the villagers. When he chooses not to drink, he hallucinates, a pink buffalo 'Gulabo/Aditi Arora', the mascot of the brand of alcohol he enjoys. When Matru learns of these hallucinations, he uses them as a ploy to get Harry drunk and serve his own plans.

Bijlee Mandola is the only child of Harry Mandola. She lost her mother when she was young and now lives in Mandola village after having received a higher education in New Delhi and later in Oxford, England. Bijlee is now in love with Baadal, the son of politician Chaudhari Devi and is all set to marry him.

Chaudhari Devi is a corrupt politician who, along with her minions, is helping Harry realize his dream. Baadal and Bijlee's union is strategically apt as it serves Harry's and Chaudhari Devi's personal goals. While Chaudhari Devi conspires to control Harry's wealth by marrying her son to his daughter, Harry seeks Chaudhari Devi's help in realising his dream in exchange for their children's marriage.

Matru is a revolutionary, fighting for the villagers' cause of not letting their land being taken away. He is educated in Law from JNU, holds a job as Harry's driver and is responsible for regulating Harry's drinking. Matru's revolutionary instincts are shown to be significantly influenced by those of Mao Tse-tung.

The film starts with a negotiation at a liquor shop set in crop laden fields, between the liquor shop owner and a heavily drunk Harry. The shop owner's rude refusal to sell alcohol to Harry due to the day being a dry day provokes Harry to run his limousine into the shop.

Once drunk, Harry is shown to be an entirely different individual, who wants the land of the villagers to be returned to them, Matru to marry Bijlee while himself to retire into a religious man. The villagers, in their fight are supported and advised by Mao who regularly sends messages to the villagers, written on cloth. Later in the film it is revealed that Mao is none other than Matru who is advising the villagers without revealing himself in order to retain the key position as Harry's aide.

Bijlee's love for Baadal is depicted to be a contradiction to her subtle, probably subconscious, knowledge of Baadal's incompatibility with her. This subtle thought aggravated by Baadal's affiliation and deeds supporting his mother's corrupt cause overpowers Bijlee's will to marry him and polarizes her into helping Matru and the villagers instead. After this polarization, seeing Chaudhari Devi and Baadal's ambitions in a new light and while helping the villagers along with Matru, Bijlee falls in love with Matru.

Although they have the help of Matru, his college friends, and Bijlee, the villagers lose their entire harvest to an unexpected rain storm. This harvest, which would have fetched enough money to settle their debts to the government bank and some more for their own survival, is now completely destroyed. Thus the villagers are forced to surrender their land, against their will, to the government in order to settle their debts.

Later, discovering Bijlee's alliance with the villagers, Chaudhari Devi, now cautious, decides to finalize the decree to convert the now acquired land into an SEZ only once Bijlee and Baadal are married.

These conflicts of villagers' loss of their lands, Bijlee's marriage to Baadal, builds up the tension leading up to the wedding at the climax wherein Matru and the villagers have a plan to get Harry drunk who will then call off the wedding. This plan apparently works and Harry is shown to be drunk, succumbing to Matru and the villagers' plan. Now, while drunk, he enters the wedding venue, calls off the wedding, and chases away Chaudhari Devi whilst Baadal and their supporters and decides to get Bijlee and Matru married. Consequently, upon refusal by Matru on the pretext that Harry will not feel the same way about him and Bijlee when sober, Harry, to everyone's surprise, reveals that since he had sworn on Bijlee to not consume even a drop of alcohol has stood by his word, in turn revealing that while he did all that he did appearing to be drunk, he was completely sober instead.

Soundtrack

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Type:soundtrack
Artist:Vishal Bhardwaj
Label:Sony Music India
Producer:Hitesh Sonik, Clinton Cerejo

The film's music was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj with lyrics by Gulzar. The soundtrack was released by Sony Music India. The title song, by Sukhwinder Singh and Ranjit Barot, was released as a single track on 30 November 2012. Another single track, "Oye Boy Charlie", by Rekha Bhardwaj, Mohit Chauhan and Shankar Mahadevan was released on 12 December 2012. The full album was released on 19 December 2012 on Saavn.com. Musicperk.com rated the album 8/10, saying it is "well-worth a listen".[3]

Critical reception

Raja Sen for Rediff.com awarded it 4/5 stars, opining Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola has enough substance to warrant repeated viewings.[4] Anupama Chopra of the Hindustan Times rated the movie 2.5/5. She reasoned that "Parts of the film soar, but many are saggy and ultimately I was just underwhelmed."[5] Critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave four out of five stars saying, "Vishal Bhardwaj gives us a film that’s enjoyable and relevant in equal measure. The year’s first gem has arrived – don’t miss it!"

Box office

India

Matru Ki Beejlee Ka Mandola opened below the mark where business at multiplexes was much better than single screens.[6] It collected on its opening day.[7] Its little growth on its second day managed around net.[8] The film had a first weekend with a collection of including paid previews.[9] The film netted around in its first week.[10] It further dropped 87% and netted around in its second weekend.[11] It netted in its second week.[12] It earned at the end of its run in domestic market.[13]

Overseas

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola collected $10.5 million in its first 10 days of release overseas, as reported by Box Office India.[14]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: :: The Film Street Journal :: . 26 March 2014 . 27 March 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140327221346/http://thefilmstreetjournal.com/generalarticle.aspx?id=580 . dead .
  2. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola collects Rs. 7.02 crore, biggest for Vishal Bhardwaj. https://web.archive.org/web/20130115003559/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Bollywood/Matru-Ki-Bijlee-Ka-Mandola-collects-Rs-7-02-crore-biggest-for-Vishal-Bhardwaj/Article1-989438.aspx. dead. 15 January 2013. Hindustan Times. 14 January 2013.
  3. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Musicperk - Trending news, analysis, reviews, ratings and exclusive content for music. . www.musicperk.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130118074322/http://www.musicperk.com/matru-ki-bijlee-ka-mandola/ . 2013-01-18.
  4. Web site: Review: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is absurdly great . Raja Sen . Rediff.com . 11 January 2013.
  5. News: Anupama Chopra's Review: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola . https://web.archive.org/web/20130111231959/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Reviews/Anupama-Chopra-s-review-Matru-ki-bijlee-ka-mandola/Article1-988488.aspx . dead . 11 January 2013 .
  6. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Struggles on Day One. Box Office India. 11 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130115023550/http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=5285&nCat=. 15 January 2013. dead.
  7. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola First Day Territorial Breakdown. Box Office India. 12 January 2013.
  8. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Second Day Business. Box Office India. 13 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130115031935/http://boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=5290&nCat=. 15 January 2013. dead.
  9. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Weekend Territorial Breakdown. Box Office India. 14 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130115031511/http://boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=5294&nCat=. 15 January 2013. dead.
  10. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Week One Territorial Breakdown. Box Office India. 21 January 2012.
  11. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Drops 87% In Second Weekend. Box Office India. 21 January 2013.
  12. Web site: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Week Two Territorial Breakdown. Box Office India. 28 January 2013.
  13. Web site: 2013 Top Ten Till Date. Box Office India. 20 April 2013.
  14. Web site: Inkaar Is Poor Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola $3.5 Million. Box Office India. 23 January 2013.
  15. News: 59th Filmfare Awards: Complete list of nominees 2014 . The Times of India. 7 January 2020.