Review: 'Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi'

Film: Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi
Director: Rakesh Mehta
Cast: Manu Rishi, Ranvir Shorey, Kay Kay Menon, Neha Bhasin, Pradhyuman Singh
Rating: *

Those living in Mumbai never stop cursing the city, its traffic, its pace, the space (or lack of it). But everybody moves on to better things, more cussing, and of course embracing with passion. Most come to the city with an agenda, but there’s no guarantee the muse allows one to willingly go with the flow or stick to the plan.

Similar is the fate of the four characters that director Rakesh Mehta airdrops into the city. The too-honest-to-handle ways of ACP Chautala (Manu Rishi) see him bundled from Dilli to Bambai. He has only 24 hours to bust a Nigerian cartel before he loses his vardi.

Then there is chef Amol Ganguly (Ranvir Shorey), who rushes to the city from London only to find out his longtime girlfriend has been married off to someone else. Death-loving junkie and old friend Ajoy (a super annoying Pradhyuman Singh) throws open to Amol the option to drown in alcohol, drugs and death.

Dolly Saluja (Neha Bhasin) is the quintessential north Indian girl with big Bollywood dreams to fall back on. For now, an empty bank balance is all she has.

There’s a sob story too. What is supposedly an act of revenge, turns out to be a utterly boring saga of Salman Firdausi (Kay Kay Menon), whose gangster father (Jackie Shroff) and innocent mother get killed in a gang war. Salman’s fight to cope with the loss, while plotting to bump off his father’s killer, nibble away at his sanity (and ours too).

Individually, these stories work fairly well, but when seen as a film, they fall flat. None appear to move one enough to feel for the characters. The editing isn’t of much help too, abrupt and amateur at best. Manu Rishi’s ACP Chautala provides comic relief, while Shorey’s Amol Ganguly is tragic yet amusing. Menon chokes up so much, further taking away interest from the film. Debutante Bhasin is decent but tends to get lost in the brigade of well-established actors. The backside-scratching Singh deserves to be captured in a bottle and thrown in the sea.

The director, screenplay and dialogue writer Mehta chooses to place the stories in Mumbai, but except for paying lip service to its ghost, does nothing to involve the viewer. Usual suspects Gateway of India, BSE building, VT station make easy cameos as representatives of Mumbai. There’s no reason to go pay and watch them on the big screen. Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi is best avoided.