Crossword Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Wisdomtree Productions Creation’s Mohalla Assi (A) is based in Kashi in Uttar Pradesh.
Dharmnath Pandey (Sunny Deol) is an orthodox Brahmin pandit who sits on Assi ghat in Kashi and helps visitors including foreigners. He also teaches Sanskrit. Dharmnath Pandey has been elected president of the Dharm Raksha Parishad, and the other Brahmin Pandits working on Assi ghat are not very happy about it because he is very strict.
Dharmnath is strictly against the local Brahmins allowing foreigners to stay as paying guests in their homes because he considers foreigners unclean and those who can pollute their homes which are abodes of Lord Shiva. Dharmnath is particularly critical of the foreigners because they eat non-vegetarian food.
Kanni Guru (Ravi Kishan) is a tourist guide who is an opportunist. Nekram (Faisal Rashid) is a barber, another opportunist who hooks up with a foreigner, turns a sadhu and goes to the USA. There are other Brahmin pandits who work on Assi ghat. There’s a group of men who meet regularly at the tea shop and discuss politics and religion with the same passion. Since the story is set in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, topics of discussion include the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the Mandal Commission.
There comes a time when Dharmnath Pandey is forced to step down from his lofty ideals and principles because he finds it difficult to make ends meet. He agrees to keep a foreigner lady in his own house as a paying guest when Kanni educates him about the money the lady would be paying him for not just staying in his house but also learning Sanskrit from him. Dharmnath’s wife, Savitri (Sakshi Tanwar), is shocked that Dharmnath is willing to compromise on his principles but he explains to her that there is no alternative if he is to give the family (which includes three children) a decent life.
Dharmnath agrees to change the place where the Shiva linga resides in his home just so that the foreigner can be accommodated. This creates such a sensation in Assi that all hell breaks loose. What happens thereafter?
The film is based on Dr. Kashi Nath Singh’s popular Hindi novel, Kashi Ka Assi, a satire on the commercialisation of the pilgrim place. The story is satirical in nature and would, therefore, appeal to the class audience only. Even otherwise, since it is quite philosophical and allegorical, the story would make sense to the elite audience mainly. Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s screenplay doesn’t do much to increase the drama’s appeal for a wider viewer base. What’s more, since the film is about just one small area of Kashi and the problems faced by some people there, its relevance to the large mass base of audience would be restricted.
Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s dialogues are often in high-flown Hindi and too philosophical for the common man’s understanding. They are weighty, no doubt, but they have limited appeal. Yes, the usage of swear words (by both, male and female characters) is so liberal that it adds tremendously to the shock value.
Sunny Deol does a fair job as Dharmnath Pandey but having said that, it must be added that he is miscast. He has the image of a rough-and-tough hero, which is completely at variance with the educated and soft-hearted character he plays in the film. Sakshi Tanwar is natural to the core as Savitri, wife of Dharmnath Pandey. She is equally at ease in serious, light, dramatic, emotional and melodramatic scenes. Ravi Kishan is delightful as Kanni. Faisal Rashid does a fair job as Nekram. Saurabh Shukla makes his presence felt in the role of Upadhyay. Mukesh Tiwari lends decent support. Rajendra Gupta is pretty impressive; his acting and clear diction are praiseworthy. Mithilesh Chaturvedi stands his own. Akhilendra Mishra, Dayashankar Pandey and Vishwa Badola are all effective. Others provide reasonable support.
Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s direction is okay. Like the script, his narration also caters more to the classes. Amod Bhatt’s music is only functional. Gulzar’s lyrics are good. Ahmed Khan’s choreography hardly deserves separate mention. Amod Bhatt and Utpal Sharma’s background music is okay. Vijay Kumar Arora’s camerawork is nice. Sham Kaushal’s action and stunts are alright. Bhupendra Singh’s art direction is so-so. Aseem Sinha’s editing could’ve been tighter.
On the whole, Mohalla Assi is not entertaining enough for the masses and will, therefore, go largely unnoticed. In other words, it will meet with a disastrous fate at the turnstiles.
Released on 16-11-’18 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru White Lion Entertainment. Publicity: low-key. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.