‘Mantra’ of Life!
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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark
Nicholas
Kharkongor’s debut feature film ‘Mantra’ tells us that how you handle life in
adversities decides whether you are ‘for’ life or ‘against’ life. The 1990’s
saw the advent of globalization and liberalization. The Indian market saw hope
as well as doom. The MNCs challenged the then home grown market leaders in every
possible manner through their cutting edge technology, quality product and
services clubbed with competitive pricing and innovative business strategies. King
Chips is one such company that faces the music and witnesses pathetically it
getting replaced on the stores shelves across the country by Kipper chips the
new MNC product round the corner.
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Kapil
Kapoor aka KK the entrepreneur who owns King Chips understands the new market ‘Mantra’
but then fails miserably to keep the boat sailing. KK’s challenge in life is two
pronged – One, a business that is dwindling away and two, a dysfunctional
family. KK’s family comprises of Meenakshi, his barrister wife, Viraj his elder
son who is a restaurateur who owns ‘Mantra’, Piya, his daughter who also dons
the hat of a chef in her brother’s restaurant and who ferociously seeks her independence
from the family now and then, and the last but not the least Vir, KK’s youngest
son who is in his sweet sixteen and is in a virtual relationship with a married
woman.
You
don’t need much resources to battle the challenges life poses, except one –
your family’s support and belief in you. KK understands this truth but it seems
that it’s too late for him to cobble up the required support and trust. KK with
his bunch of school and college buddies do have their own me time but the loner
in KK seeks answers to many pertinent questions alone. He believes in the old
adage strongly –“The family that eats together stays together”! Apart from being
film critic, as a corporate trainer I conduct workshops on –“Silos to Synergy”.
After watching Nicholas’s ‘Mantra’, I realized that the above mentioned topic
is so apt for families too. KK’s family eats together but live in silos. The
movie is an eye opener for many of us who are too busy without any business in
life. Each character in Mantra is a classic example of many we find families
today.
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This
90 minutes film Mantra though a bit slow paced is a onetime watch. It could
have been better but cannot be ignored. It doesn’t end necessarily with a
conclusion, may be the filmmaker want the viewers to come to their own
conclusions and derive their takeaways from KK’s life. Rajat Kapoor as always infuse
life into KK’s character and Kalki is a natural actor. Adil Hussain in his
cameo stnds apart as a migrant from Jharkhand in Delhi. Shiv Pandit as Viraj
and Lushin Dubey as Meenakshi has done a good job.
Does KK manage to deal with the emergence of
Kipper chips and give a tough competition? What does he do to keep his family
by falling apart? What happens to the young lad Vir and his virtual
relationship? Does Piya strike a deal for her freedom in her family! Can Viraj
be of any help to his father’s sinking business? What happens to KK and
Meenakshi’s married life? Will they drift apart? To find answers to these
questions please visit your nearby theatre and find your own ‘Mantra’ for life.
Life Connoisseur Movie Rating: 3 /5
Cast:Rajat Kapoor
(Kapil Kapoor), Shiv Pandit (Viraj), Kalki Koechlin (Piya), Lushin Dubey
(Meenakshi), Rohan Joshi (Vir), Adil Hussain (Cameo), Yuri Suri (Mohan Kaul),
Maya Krishna Rao (Shazia Siddiqui)
Genre: Family
Drama
Director:
Nicholas Kharkongor
Crowd funded
Creative Producer: Rajat Kapoor
Senior Executive Producer: Nikhil Chaudhury, Prashant Sehgal
Writer:
Nicholas Kharkongor
Music by:
Sagar Desai
Cinematography:
Harmeet Basur
Presented
By: Filmart Productions, north East Films, Shri Productions, Zenyth Media House
Release Date:
17th March, 2017
Duration:
90 Minutes
Language:
Bilingual (Hindi & English)
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