Reltic Pictures’ Mandali is about the Ramleela mandalis in Uttar Pradesh. Ramsewak Choubey (Vineet Kumar) runs a mandali in which son Sitaram (Ashwath Bhatt) plays Ram while nephew Puru (Abhishek Duhan) plays tiny roles as per need. Puru is actually a behind-the-scenes person. One day, purist Ramsewak shuts down his mandali when people revolt against Sitaram taking drugs. Puru is against the idea of shutting down the mandali but his uncle will not budge. Ramsewak is also against commercialisation of Ramleela programmes.
Puru now takes up a job as a peon in Omkar Singh’s (Rajneesh Duggal) college. He also joins Naushad’s (Brijendra Kala) Ramleela mandali where he meets Bunty (Aanchal Munjal) whom he ultimately marries. When Puru seeks a favour from Omkar Singh for girlfriend Bunty’s brother, Okmar Singh asks him to marry a widow. Puru declines and, obviously, loses his job. He then marries Bunty and the two start a Ramleela mandali but it flops. To avoid tension with his wife due to financial problems, Puru starts working in another mandali. One day, Omkar Singh attends the Ramleela in which Puru is an actor, and demands that Puru perform a dance in a saree. Puru is ready to oblige lest the mandali is forced to shut down. Puru’s uncle arrives on the scene and he stops Puru from cross-dressing and dancing. What happens thereafter?
Pallav Jain, Vinay Agrahari and Rakesh Chaturvedi Om have written a story which belongs to an era gone by. Except in villages where Ramleela programmes are still in vogue, the story will not engage the audience. Their screenplay is predictable, repetitive and even boring. Emotions absolutely fail to touch the heart because no noble character in the drama becomes so important for the audience that they would root for him. The trio’s dialogues are routine.
Abhishek Duhan does well as Puru. Aanchal Munjal is good as Bunty. Rajneesh Duggal does his villainy ably in the role of Omkar Singh. Vineet Kumar is effective as Ramsewak Choubey. Brijendra Kala is entertaining as Naushad. Ashwath Bhatt is alright as Sitaram Choubey. Kanwaljit Singh provides fair support as Omkar’s father, Rajiv Narayan Singh. Saharsh Kumar Shukla (as Puru’s friend, Ashish Shukla), Alka Amin (as Ramsewak Choubey’s wife), Bhasha Sumbli (as Sitaram’s wife, Rashmi), Neeraj Sood (as police inspector Harisharan), and the others lend routine support.
Rakesh Chaturvedi Om’s direction is average but his choice of subject leaves a lot to be desired. Rahul Mishra’s music and Sandeep Nath’s lyrics are functional. Subhash Shukla’s choreography is so-so. Background music hardly deserves mention. Ayush Jain’s cinematography is dull. Vikram Dahiya’s action and stunt scenes are devoid of thrill. Chandrashekhar Yadav’s production designing is below the mark. Editing is loose.
On the whole, Mandali will find the going at the turnstiles tough.
Released on 27-10-’23 at Glamour (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru UFO Cine Media Network. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over.