Mayaa Film Review
- ★
- ★
- ★
- ★
- ★
Mayaa Film Review
Director Rajorshee de’s Mayaa ia an intense crime drama, modelled on the famous Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth. Umpteen filmmakers, through ages, have adapted Macbeth for the big screen; some of the noteworthy ones being Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood, Roman Polanski’s Macbeth, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool and Anirban Bhattacharya’s web series Mandaar. Mayaa is another attempt of reinventing this Shakespeare’s classic where the ending is more revenge-centric, rather than power-centric.
The story opens with a scene of shock and violence, where a young rape victim gets pregnant, gives up her child and becomes a spiritualist named Mayaa, a character played by Rafiath Rashid Mithila. She goes on to become a powerful female leader of a minority group, who people turn to for sanctuary.
The audience is then introduced to Darbar Sharma, portrayed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, a powerful crime boss with an eye for women. Among these women, there are his current mistress Mrinalini played by Tanusree Chakraborty, his daughter-in-law Reshmi played by Sudiptaa Chakraborty and his ex-mistress Paramita, portrayed by Koneenica Banerjee. His circle also includes his son Mayank, depicted by Rahul Banerjee and his faithful henchman Michael, played by Gaurav Chakrabarty. His character is that of a thug with a shady past.
While the story is based on Macbeth, it focuses way too much on titillating details and deliberate deviations, that somehow takes away the essence of the drama. The director takes way too much time establishing Darbar’s wickedness. Most dialogues are in Hindi, with the Bengali accent often turning a serious scene or dialogue into something unintentionally comical. Kamaleshwar is convincingly cunning, but his role is primarily unidimensional despite the length the director goes to establish his rule. On the other hand, Gaurav’s Michael is not given enough backstory for the audience to connect with his situation and that applies to virtually all the other characters. Tanushree’s Mrinalini, presumably modelled on Lady Macbeth works in parts, especially where she’s fighting to gain power and position.
On the other hand, Rafiath, as Mayaa, should have been able to do far more justice to her role, but she hardly moves beyond the dreadlocks and the kohl-lined eyes. Her dialogue delivery – a combination of Hindi and Bengali that sounds too rehearsed at times – leaves a lot of room for clarity and intensity. Sudipta, as the bold Mahi, Koneenica, as the has-been Paramita, and Rahul as Mayank have a good chemistry and their sub-plot keeps the story moving even when the main plot fails.
While a large number of cameos spoil the broth, the dialogues feel extremely stilted and contemporary, with loads of cussing casually thrown in to, perhaps, to make it sound more ‘natural’?
The film nearly touches the three-hour mark, with a slow first half and a rushed second half. Maybe that is the reason why the dialogues as well as context feel out of place. Moreover, the editing is too slow in places, sharp in others, and this constantly and unnervingly alters the film’s pace. Overall, Mayaa doesn’t make much of an impact beyond body politics. The director’s consistent focus on heightening the revenge element doesnot lead to the ‘calm of mind, all passion spent’ ending a Macbeth adaptation deserves.