Amazon Prime and Made In Maurya’s Mast Mein Rehne Ka is about living life to the fullest in spite of the challenges life throws. The story of survival is sought to be conveyed through four main characters.
Kamath (Jackie Shroff) is an ageing, lonely man who lives all alone in his flat in Bombay. He befriends Mrs. Handa (Neena Gupta) who has returned from Canada because of the shabby treatment meted out to her by her son, Randheer (Mashhoor Amrohi), and daughter-in-law. Nanhe (Abhishek Chauhan) is a skilful tailor who is thrown out of his job by his master. Despite not having the money, he tries to start his own tailoring business and is helped by a friend, Baburam (Faisal Malik). Nanhe falls in love with Rani (Monika Panwar) who begs at traffic signals and sells her body for a living. The story about living life to the fullest in the face of adversity is about Kamath, Mrs. Handa, Nanhe and Rani.
Vijay Maurya and Payal Arora have written a realistic story about common people who have to literally struggle to lead normal lives in the hustle bustle of a metropolitan city. By its very nature, the story is about depressing situations and although it does talk about being happy in the face of adversity, the fact remains that it is a sad and depressing story, more so because it doesn’t even end in the happily-ever-after zone. The realistic nature of the story restricts its appeal. Vijay Maurya’s screenplay is interesting and also philosophical. It reflects a mind that has seen and understood life very closely. However, since the story is more class-appealing, the screenplay is also restrictive in its appeal. Vijay Maurya’s dialogues are earthy.
Jackie Shroff acts well, playing Kamath effectively. Neena Gupta lives the role of Mrs. Handa and lends it a great deal of style and substance. Abhishek Chauhan is very endearing as Nanhe. His well-enacted awkwardness will win him fans. Monika Panwar is good as Rani. Faisal Malik has his moments as Baburam. Rakhi Sawant is lovely as Bilkis. Mashhoor Amrohi lends fair support as Mrs. Handa’s son, Randheer. Chaitali Jadhav (as the female cop), Priyadarshan Jadhav (as police inspector Mane), Shashi Kiran (as Sundar Sukhani), Vijay Maurya (as the male staffer outside the airport), Vivek Namdev (as Mrs. Handa’s building watchman), Bartaki Patel (as Nanubhai), Nirmal Raghav and Sourav Singh (both as watchmen), Uday Sabnis (as Bhonsle), Abhijit Zunzarrao (as constable Salunkhe), B.M. Vyas (as Jumman chacha), Vishal Jadhav (as the hawaldar), Kaam Bhaari (as Andhera Chor), Ashok Choudhary (as Taimur chacha) and the others lend the necessary support.
Vijay Maurya’s direction is clever but, like the script, his narration also caters to the classes mainly. In other words, the story is about commoners but the appeal is for the classes. Music (Shailendra Barve, Kaam Bhaari and Anurag Saikia) has a feel that’s different from the regular Hindi film music. Lyrics (Vijay Maurya, Kunal Anand Pandagle and Bhaari Beatz) are in keeping with the film’s mood. Arabinda Neog’s background music is quite effective. Nagaraj Rathinam’s cinematography is very nice. Amritpal Singh’s action and stunt scenes are realistic. Teddy Maurya’s production designing is of a fine standard. Antara Lahiri’s editing is crisp.
On the whole, Mast Mein Rehne Ka is a slice-of-life film with limited appeal for the classes mainly.
Released on 8-12-’23 on Amazon Prime.