Manorama Six Feet Under (2007)

Director:

Navdeep Singh

Writers:

Devika Bhagat (writer) and
Navdeep Singh (writer) ...

Release Date:

21 September 2007 (India)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

In The Desert, Nothing Is What it Seems

Plot:

Rajasthan-based Satyaveer Singh Randhawa works as a Junior Engineer with Lahkot Municipality's Public...

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Neo Noir | Estrangement

Cast

Abhay Deol	...	Satyaveer Randhawa
Gul Panag	...	Nimmi
Raima Sen	...	Sheetal / Neetu
Sarika	...	Manorama
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Minister P.P. Rathore
Vinay Pathak	...	Brij Mohan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yana Gupta	...	Herself (Illusion)
Jogiji	...	Fauji
Brijendra Kale	...	Bihari Lal

Runtime:

India:135 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Rajasthan, India

Company:

Shemaroo Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Features Chinatown (1974)

Manorama 6 feet under

This movie was released in India about a month back. I had heard that it is based on Roman Polanski's China Town. That, and Abhay Deol made me interested to see this movie.

The story is more or less the same as China Town. The backdrop of the movie is the desert Indian state of Rajasthan. Satyaveer (Abhay Deol) is a government engineer who writes detective novels in his spare time. One day, a lady called Manorama (Sarika) comes and requests Satyaveer to spy on her husband Minister P.P.Rathore (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) for a sum of money. Satyaveer agrees. Later when Manorama dies Satyaveer realizes that Manorama was not the wife of the Minister Rathore. He be-friends Manorama's friend Sheetal (Raima Sen). Satyaveer realizes that there are further mysteries behind the whole episode. The racket of land grabbing, corruption, immoralities etc.

The winner of the movie is its script. The first time Director Navdeep Singh has done a decent job in adapting China town. Abhay Deol has justified the role of a rural detective with great underplay. The pace of the movie is similar to that of China town, but the twist, suspense and narrative keeps us glued to the movie. There are no brutal scenes of crime, violence and sex (as in Johnny Gaddar that keep youth audiences glued), but still it has the subtle creepiness about the whole movie. This thrill is maintained till the very last frame of the movie.

The music is okay and a few songs inserted in the narrative (which could have been avoided). The best part of the movie is the rural Rajasthan setting that brings a new dimension and scale to the movie. Sadly the movie is 35 mm, otherwise it would be a great pleasure to see the desert landscape and the colors on a cinemascope or 70 mm canvass.

Abhay Deol has shown great acting potential with his underplay and sincerity. Still this are his early days, but if he gets the right opportunities he can turn out to be a great actor for Indian cinema.

All in all, a very good movie experience. Nice to see Bollywood experimenting.

(Stars 7.5 out of 10)