Every time ‘cinema experts’ claim that the time of commercial potboilers or masala films, as they are commonly known as, is over, a film comes and changes the game. While the South Indian film industry makes massy films on a regular basis, the Hindi film industry is veering more towards films appealing to the sensibilities of the urban audience. While those films are doing well, their reach remains restricted to the theatres in cities. There is definitely a dearth of larger-than-life commercial films, the kind brings hordes of people, from all walks of life, into the theatres.
After writing the screenplay/dialogues for a couple of films in that gene, Milap Milan Zaveri, decided to direct a film in the same space. The film ‘Satyameva Jayate’ (2018) – turned out to be a roaring success and that gave Milap, who had earlier directed two unsuccessful films (‘Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai’ (2010) and ‘Mastizaade’ (2016)), the confidence to make more films in a genre which he loved himself. As indicated by the trailer, his new film ‘Marjaavaan’ is firmly entrenched in the world which a film like ‘Satyameva Jataye’ was set in.
A revenge drama, with Raghu (Siddharth Malhotra) and Zoya’s (Tara Sutaria) love story at the centre of it, ‘Marjaavaan’ seems to have all the ingredients of a true-blue commercial Hindi film. There are tropes like the heroine playing an instrument, the villain mouthing menacing dialogues, action set pieces and other elements which one expected to see in films of this genre. All those elements seem to be present here along with a story which, as indicated by the last shot of the trailer, has a good amount of intrigue to it as well.
Just like ‘Satyameva Jayate’, the trailer of ‘Marjaavaan’, too, has managed to leave a solid impact and if the songs (we do get to hear a bit of the title track sung by Jubin Nautiyal in the trailer) manage to click, a good opening is definitely on the cards.
