Review: '332 Mumbai to India' is more boring than your daily bus commute

Like A Wednesday and Mumbai Meri Jaan, 332 Mumbai to India strives to capture the essence of Mumbai and the impact upon it of communal disharmony and terrorist strikes. Only, this film sends out a clichéd message — nationalism comes before regionalism.

The film is based on a true incident, with doses of fiction creeping in now and then. It deals with the issue of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s campaign more than two years ago against North Indians.

The plot revolves around the Rahul Raj bus hijack episode that took place in 2008. Angered by the ill-treatment of migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh at the hands of MNS activists, Rahul, a native of Bihar, comes to Mumbai and hijacks a BEST bus on route 332.

The angry young man's aim is to bump off MNS leader Raj Thackeray (obviously, all real-life names and cuss words are bleeped out) and he demands a chance to talk to the media and justify his stance. But he is shot dead by the police, resulting in some more hate crimes between the communities in Maharashtra and Bihar.

But the film doesn’t end here. It moves on to the 26/11 attacks, which saw residents of Mumbai display their solidarity and patriotism. So Marathi-speaking people and Hindi-speaking people put their hostility aside and join hands as Indians.
 

The subject of 332 Mumbai to India had a lot of potential, but the drab screenplay ruins the film. What's left of the potential is quickly buried by the unimaginative narrative and dialogues.

The film’s miscasting and terrible costumes are another disaster. For God’s sake, which Maharashtrian girl today heads to work tying her hair up in two braids and adorning it with gajras? Add to it the free flow of abuse from her mouth in a public place and what you have is a repulsive calamity.

Clearly, some think that merely adding 'ich' at the end of every word makes for a Marathi accent! The actors’ performances are annoyingly over the top, though due credit should be given to the not-so-bad cinematography.

The film is not worth a watch, despite the fuss some MNS activists created over its release just a few days ago. It's instructive to note that they quietened down after a special screening of the film. Perhaps they, too, realised that nothing could save 332.