Mastram Review {2/5} & Review Rating
In today's world where everything is available at a mere press of a button, many of us have forgotten as to how the bygone era was and what all were the means of livelihood that they had adopted as a career [both conventional and unconventional]. Strange but true, one such unconventional but well paying job was the art of writing porn!
MASTRAM is about yesteryear's one such writer in northern India named Rajaram Vishram aka Hans [Rahul Bagga]. Even though he works as a small-town bank clerk, he always nurtures and harbours the dreams of moving to Delhi and becoming a famous author. Since his bank's boss doesn't approve and encourage his writing, he quits the job and starts going from one publisher to the other to get his works published.
When he meets with dejection everywhere, a certain publisher points out that if he really intends to get his books published, there is a certain amount of 'masala' that he needs to sprinkle his writings with. An innocent Rajaram then starts looking up to the lengths and breadths of almost everywhere to understand the meaning of the said term. And the moment he understands what the term 'masala' is actually meant, it gives rise to 'Mastram', a pseudonym under which he start writing his pornographic novels.
This pseudonym is something that only he and his publishers know about, so much so that he keeps his best friend and his ever-so-supportive wife Renu [Tara-Alisha Berry] in the dark about his writings. With the advent of his newfound success, his middle class life takes a U-turn towards richness, thus making him the subject matter of discussion on everyone's lips. What happens when his family gets to know the reality of 'Mastram'?
As far as the cast is concerned, Rahul plays the title role with the right amount of innocence and conviction that the role demands, although the same cannot be said about Tara, who plays his ever-supporting wife. She is good in parts. While the man who plays Rahul's best friend delivers a decent performance, the rest of the cast do their bit in carrying the film forward.
Director Akhilesh Jaiswal seems to know his job. Given the movie premises, the dialogues should have been more impactful. At the same time, the editing could have been a bit crispier in order to have the desired impact. There's absolutely no way anyone will remember the film's music as it's the film's content that will drive the audience to the theatres. Surprising enough, the film doesn't have any of such explicit content as was expected from a film of this stature.
All in all, MASTRAM is a film that can be given a try, if you haven't tried anything else this week.
