Mittal v/s Mittal- Badly executed!

Rating: 2 out of 5*

Starring: Rohit Roy, Rituparna Sengupta, Suchitra Krishnamoorthy and Gulshan Grover

Director: Karan Razdan

High flying businessman and casanova Karan Mittal (Rohit Roy) sees Mitali (Rituparna) at a fashion show and flips for her. He strikes a friendship with her. Very aggressive in his approach, he tries to take her to bed in a very short time but Mitali doesn’t allow him to. She also distances herself from him. But then after a few months time he makes re entry in her life and proposes to her. Though she is not prepared for a marriage with him, she eventually decides to get married on her over enthusiastic mom’s (Reema Lagoo) insistence. Her mom doesn’t want to let go of such a big well known business house. But problems crop up immediately after marriage. Mitali’s mother in law (Dolly Thakore) is the typical high society types who looks down on Mitali’s middle class up bringing and leaves no chance of insulting her every day. But Karan finds fault in Mitali for the same and gets abusive. When Mitali resists making love to him, he forces himself on her. From then on marital rape becomes a daily thing by Karan. Finally, Mitali decides to call it quits and leaves his house. Aided by a women’s organization she decides to take him to court for marital rape. She is helped by lawyer Karuna Maheshwari (Suchitra). But their fight is against one of the most cunning defense lawyer, Salunkhe (Gulshan Grover) who on behalf of his client Karan leaves no opportunity to insult Mitali in the court of law. Mitali is almost on the verge of losing her case but finally the tables turn on Karan due to the appearance of Karan’s hideous past.

The film may be well intended but it is badly executed by director Karan Razdan. It talks about marital rape but the camera goes voyeuristic during the rape scenes. Instead of making the audience feel angry about the rape, it tries to titillate. However, it is during the court room scenes when the film becomes more serious and bearable. Some important questions are raised and the subject thereon is tackled well. Technically the film appears shoddy as production values are very average. Music by Shamir Tandon is a big bore.

Rituparna enacts her part well and brings out her helplessness effectively. Rohit Roy suits the role to the T. He is extremely natural. Gulshan Grover as the cool as cucumber defense lawyer is simply excellent. Suchitra Krishnamoorthy enacts her part well. Dolly Thakore is again a perfect casting.

The makers need to be applauded for bringing on screen a necessary subject. However, the film could have been much better and a recommended watch had it not been for the frivolous execution of the marital rape sequences.

-Sampurn Wire