Cine Stuck: Konkona Sen Sharma And Mohit Raina's Mumbai Diaries Seems To Get It Right
Mumbai Diaries looks like a rigorously researched series with its head on its shoulders and its feet firmly planted to the ground reality.
There is something chilling, real and disturbing about the way Amazon Prime’s new serial Mumbai Diaries chronicles the events on the night of 26/11 when Mumbai was paralysed by a terror attack. Because of the Covid pandemic we who are on the safe side of the battle line, have grown aware of how tough it is for the front-runners, the civil warriors who fight during a crisis often at the risk of losing their lives.
In Mumbai Diaries, it is the medical professional on high alert on the night of 26/11. I am delighted to see some of our best, most underused acting talent playing doctor-doctor with a fulsome conviction. There is the brilliant Mohit Raina who has been struggling to find his bearings ever since he ceased to play Lord Shiva. Mohit, who was decidedly superior to Vicky Kaushal in spite of his limited screen time in Uri, is in good shape in Mumbai Diaries.
And Konkona Sen Sharma… Such a delightful chameleon slipping into the doctor’s role here with as much conviction as she displayed when she played a witch in Ek Thi Dayan. Why does she do so little work?
Young Satyajit Dubey is a talent waiting to explode on screen.I have seen his work. That guy knows his acting chops a lot better than the overnight superstars born with bloody golden spoons in their mouth. I hope they gag on them.
Seriously, the best part of watching a web series like Paatal Lok, Tandav or Mumbai Diaries is the outflow of genuine talent which gladdens the heart in an industry that blindly abides by the rules of nepotism. No two ways about that.
Also, I am happy to see Mumbai Diaries focusing on the heroes, the healers rather than the attackers. Do you remember Ram Gopal Varma’s The Attacks Of 26/11 in 2013? There was so much of Kasab in it that the sale of Biryani dropped drastically on our country. Then there was Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai in 2018 where the biggest shockers were not the terrorists but Dev Patel trying to pass off as a Sikh with a turban and beard.
But the classic case of a cause gone kaput was the 26/11 film called One Less God in 2017 directed by Liam Worthington where the hero came out of the besieged Taj Hotel at the end to see people playing Holi on the streets.
Holi in November!!!!! Mumbai Diaries looks like a rigorously researched series with its head on its shoulders and its feet firmly planted to the ground reality. I am willing to stick my neck out to say this will be another outright winner for Amazon after the triumph of that biopic on that other true hero Shershaah.
Image source: SpotboyE archives, Instagram/konkona/primevideoin
Image source: SpotboyE archives, Instagram/konkona/primevideoin
