Miत्रों

In theory, this film shouldn't work. The lead actor has exactly two expressions, a wide smile and a stumped look. The story is simple. The supporting characters are heavily stereotyped. The climax is a shorter version of Munna Bhai's radio sequence. Many of the scenes and plot points feel borrowed, and the comedy runs on gags rather than smart humour...

BUT!But for some reason, this comedy of errors works!

When Jay declares that there are three kinds of people in this world (those who do a job, those who run a business, and those who, like him, are born to do nothing), only Jackky Bhagnani's wide, passion-free smile could have sold the line. And the film has him.

Mitron is like pav bhaji. The director set out to make pav bhaji: no fancy ingredients like feta cheese, no gimmicks like hand-pounded spices, just standard off-the-shelf ingredients mixed in the right proportions to deliver an honest plate of pav bhaji. And you know what? Sometimes an ordinary meal is exactly what you're hungry for.

Kem Cho, Gujarat

Why is Mitron set in Gujarat? Perhaps because some gags only land in Gujarati, but more likely because the writer is from Gujarat. Otherwise the story could have been set anywhere. Consider this: the hero dreams of becoming a chef and practises cooking every cuisine in the world, from burgers to tandoori, yet never once attempts a Gujarati dish! Still, after an overdose of Punjabi accents, with words like gal and paindi and raps about daru, kudi and sohni, the sound of Gujarati is a refreshing change. So are the traditional homes and streets of a pleasant Gujarati city, after the overkill of crowded colonies and rooftop-hopping hipsters.

Hilarity from the Mundane

Everyone in this film is normal. No drug addicts, no tortured creative geniuses, no overt sexualization, no fancy cars. The film depicts typical middle-class values, goals and lives, and finds its humour in everyday routines, squeezing hilarity out of the mundane. When the three friends are handed a cheque for 500 rupees for all their efforts on a YouTube channel, you can't help but relate. Countless middle-class Indians, swept up in the hype of instant fame and money, have started a plethora of YouTube channels, and for most of them, the absurd equation that converts views into rupees is a favourite table-time joke. If the "table" in that line doesn't ring a bell, this movie is surely not for you. And some people, instead of starting a YouTube channel, start a website with a spelling mistake.

The Career Parody

Over the years, films like 3 Idiots and Tamasha have taken a philosophical look at the idea of a "career." In many ways, Mitron is a parody of all those deep insights. When Jay tells his father he wants to become a chef, he is neither passionate nor insightful. Like a student cheating in an exam, he reads out lines scribbled in shorthand on his palm, so obviously that even his father has to remark:

"Theek se toh padh, haath pe kya likha hai." "At least read properly what's written on your palm."

Worse, the lines aren't even his own: they're notes from an earlier meeting with a chef. And when Jay's friend is confronted by Jay's father, he parrots the very same lines. The parody is complete.

Astrology Is a Science

"Astrology is a science" is another parody done well. Jay's prospective father-in-law is a firm believer in astrology, which has revealed that marrying his only daughter to Jay will make his business grow exponentially. For this reason alone, he agrees to pay jobless Jay a dowry of one crore rupees. Jay's only plan is to put the money in a fixed deposit and live off the interest. Yet at a later meeting, astrological green light notwithstanding, the father-in-law adds a condition: before he hands over his wealth, Jay must prove himself in business.

Jobless Jay took six years to finish his automobile engineering degree, and his only work experience is a stint at a call centre, where he was a good-for-nothing sifarishi tattu, a hire on someone's recommendation. And such is Jay's luck that, of all the calls in that call centre, he ends up picking up a movie-ticket booking from his girlfriend's other boyfriend. Needless to say, the stint ended with him getting fired.

He was banking on his stars for a comfortable life, but apparently he has to chart a new path. The irony of astrological faith that comes with terms and conditions is not lost on us.

The Arranged-Marriage Parody

Arranged marriages get the parody treatment too. Gone are the days when marriages were arranged between families who knew each other, with overlapping relatives carrying the proposals back and forth. Today it's all matrimonial sites and profile numbers. So when Jay's family mistakenly lands up at Avni's house, where her family is also waiting for a "boy's" family, you realise it could quite plausibly happen. It takes a good hour before anyone notices the mix-up. And when Jay finally reaches the one-crore family he was meant to meet, he keeps the mistaken-identity joke going by chatting with the housemaid as if she were the bride-to-be.

Gags Over Logic

The film simply hops from one gag to the next, one parody to the other. The director never flirts with logic and uses everything as a prop for humour. So when Avni's classmate, an MBA from an IIM-lookalike institute, turns up as a radio jockey for the climax, you know that convenience is the priority, not logic.

Thankfully, the film stays away from overt sentimentality. Even the tense moments of the climax are punctuated by gags. Jay's prospective father-in-law, sizing up the young men around Jay, turns to one of his friends and asks what he does for a living.

Is it the title of his book, or a polite way of telling the old man to back off? Both, and that's the joke. The air goes out of the drama, and we call it a wrap on a lighter note.

Mitron has no takeaways. It's a simple, happy, chatty meal at a small restaurant that lifts your spirits for a while and leaves you with a rush of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. You probably won't recall the meal a few weeks down the line, but while you're there, you enjoy it, especially with family and friends.

The Breakdown