Y.M.I - YEH MERA INDIA
Too many thoughts for one theatre
by Vishal Verma

A Pen India Presentation of an N Chandra Global Infotainment Ltd production.

Producers : N Chandra & Dhaval Gada
Director- Story- Screenplay : N Chandra
Genre : Social Drama
Target Audience : General

Starring

Anupam Kher
Atul Kulkarni
Milind Gunaji
Perizaad Zorabian
Purab Kohli
Smily Suri
Parvin Dabbas
Rajit Kapoor
Rajpal Yadav
Sarika
Sayaji Shinde
Seema Biswas
Vijay Raaz
Ashwin Mushran
Virendra Saxena
Ehsaan Khan

 

Technical Analysis

The prolific thespian helmer Chandra an acclaimed performer in his field who is still remembered for his cult Ankush & Tezaab but then unfortunately the push & pull of sensible cinema & commercial success has kept him on the edge, has now decided to call the shots from his favourite ‘real’ social chord with Y.M.I, & comes out with mixed results.

Like ‘ Mumbai Meri Jaan’, ‘Firaaq’, ‘Y.M.I’ also is a sprawling ensembler about an incident drawn in broad strokes by Chandra himself, however the pic overcomplicates matters with a surfeit of underdeveloped characters & tries to interweave each and every issue of India with the incident. These diminish the narrative's dramatic impact, but a couple of portions like the sequence between Sarika & Dabbas at the hospital & Dabbas & Rajit Kapoor ensures helmers stature on his humanist take on important subject matter which he had done before amazingly in his cult films.

The rest is a case of adding to too much spice to a dish fearing the rejection & in the attempt to play safe, the master chef spoils the dish. The movie tries to cover all the headlines of your daily morning paper based on a single incident & on the top of that it also attempts to provide the answers.

Set over a 24-hour period, the narrative jumps among multiple story arcs centering on Muslim and Hindu characters, various social classes, ideologies like communalism & capitalism, the on going marathi  bihari  struggle, traffic jams, if that was not enough then exploitation of women at work, unemployment. Using all the popular abuses commonly used in India, Chandra is lucky to get away with the censors without a single beep. However, on screen it looks like a forced attempt of sensationalism. Even the poetry which is also a forced attempt to be thought provoking. With the Gr8 indian issues not enough Chandra also tries to add the melodramatic episode of Anupam Kher which is very good but the fact is it doesn,t provide any thread to the weave.

Y.M.I could have been a decent noise by Chandra announcing his ‘real’ comeback but too many chorus in the story makes it an unclear sound. With serviceable technical package & brilliant performance by almost the entire cast, the production design is simple & focus.

The pic gets 2 out of 5

One for the attempt by the veteran to come back to his forte

The other for performances

The movie losses heavily on screenplay which fails to interweave the happenings to an incident.

 

The Story

It is a story of one day in the life of 12 people from different strata of Mumbai city which is a melting pot of cultures. They all start the day with a goal in mind but surprisingly end up achieving exactly the opposite, giving it a feel of Greek tragedy of futile human efforts in front of the inevitable destiny. However in Yeh Mera India it is more of a reversal of fortune from bad to good than from good to bad.

Promotion

The indoor /outdoor/media promotions had been fair. Anyhow the buzz is missing.

Business Analysis

Y.M.I will struggle to lift his head up & divert anyone’s attention from the other releases. Lack of consistency in story, buzz will result in a poor start which is unlikely to improve.    

Other Credits

Cassettes and CD's on Pen Audio. Singers: Zubeen Garg, Kavita Seth. Lyricist: N. Chandra, Charanjit Charan, Aasrif Dehlvi & Kavita Seth. Music Director: Suhas Siddharth & Kavita Seth. Background Music: Ranjit Barot. Cinematography: Matthew Boyd. Action: Allan Amin. Editor: N Chandra. Media Relations: Susheel Sharma. Reviewed at Famous Studios on 25 August 2009.

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