Mast Mein Rehne Ka Review – Jackie Shroff & Neena Gupta Make This Mast-Watch
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Sometimes, or perhaps too often, people forget that age is going to catch up with them and this memory lapse often makes them unkind. I remember reading a recent news report about a rise in the number of retired people being exploited, cheated, and duped, and in the majority of cases, the perpetrators are family and relatives. In Uttar Pradesh, India, the state govt is mulling upon giving senior citizens rights to evict their children from their property if they feel unhappy or unsafe with them. The 2023 Bollywood movie “Mast Mein Rehne Ka” starring Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta, explores the loneliness and isolation faced by senior citizens who have no family to turn to, and throws in an interesting sub-plot about an amateur thief targeting such lonely old residents.
Directed by Vijay Maurya, who has co-written the script with Payal Arora, “Mast Mein Rehne Ka” opens with a sepia toned Mumbai skyline, with protagonist Kamath (Jackie Shroff), a retired man walking along the beach and then going about his day. When a thief attacks and loots his flat, Kamath is advised by the cops to befriend people his age and be more alert, which leads him to strike an unlikely friendship with Mrs Handa (Neena Gupta), a feisty Punjabi widower who has returned from Canada and lives alone too. A parallel sub-plot focuses on Nanhe (Abhishek Chauhan), a tailor fired from his job, who is struggling to make ends meet, so he begins to target lonely old people. The narrative pivots on the convergence of the thieving Nanhe’s path with that of the older pair attempting to apprehend the thief.
The two parallel stories offer an interesting juxtaposition of the lives of very different people, on one hand there’s the middle-class Kamath and Mrs Handa who try to find meaning in life despite their isolation, on the other there’s Nanhe, the young tailor who desperately tries to start his own business and begins to falls for Rawas (Monika Panwar), a street beggar. Rakhi Sawant has a small comedic cameo as Bimla, who runs a dance studio and offers Nanhe a job to stitch costumes for her troupe. There’s a dance number featuring Rakhi, which sounds like a peppy item song but isn’t sleazy or sexy. It’s a fun track with comedic lyrics where Bimla dances with her troupe in her studio in bright costumes stitched by Nanhe. The cinematography is simple, straightforward, with several outdoor scenes that interweave Mumbai as a distinct character in the background. Its focus on protagonists who aren’t wealthy or glamorous was reminiscent of “Tiku Weds Sheru,” also set in Mumbai, but with protagonists who give viewers a reality check about just how unsightly life in a big city can be.
Abhishek Chauhan and Monika Pawar deliver poignant performances as two poor individuals trying to survive the grinds of an unforgiving city like Mumbai. But it’s the budding friendship between Mr Kamath and Mrs Handa that’s the most fun and poignant aspect of “Mast Mein Rehne Ka”. Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta are impeccably effortless in their roles, like real buddies bonding over cutting chai on the streets, discussing their roots, families, and other older people walking in the park. Kamath initially calls Mrs Handa “Handa amma and the casual moniker was hilarious. Their easy friendly chemistry is such a delight to watch that it makes you care a lot less about what is happening with the doomed Nanhe, who is constantly getting himself in trouble.
“Mast Mein Rehne Ka” succinctly illustrates the importance of friendships and companionship in a person’s life without dramatic speeches, monologues or preachy sermons. The climax is surprisingly cliched, but things end on a conclusively positive note. It really makes you want to watch Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta in another movie as the lead pair.
Rating: 7.5 on 10. You can stream the film on “Mast Mein Rehne Ka”.
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