Mirch

This article is about Hindi film. For the spice, see Chili pepper.

Mirch
Promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Vinay Shukla
Produced by	Reliance Big Pictures
Written by	Vinay Shukla
Starring	Konkona Sen Sharma Raima Sen Shahana Goswami Ila Arun Shreyas Talpade Arunoday Singh Boman Irani Prem Chopra Tisca Chopra Pitobash
Music by	Monty Sharma
Cinematography	Sudhakar Yakkanti Reddy
Editing by	Sankalp Meshram
Distributed by	Reliance Big Pictures
Release date(s)	September 26, 2010 (2010-09-26) (I View Film Festival)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mirch (Hindi: मिर्च; English: The Chilli) is a 2010 Indian drama film written and directed by Vinay Shukla. The film featured Konkona Sen Sharma and Raima Sen in pivotal roles.^[1] The film began filming in Bikaner, Rajasthan.^[2]

According to Shukla, the subject of the film is gender equality and woman sexuality.^[3] The film revolves around four short stories subjected on issues of women emancipation, based on a story from the Panchatantra which travels in its various versions to modern times. Konkona Sen Sharma and Raima Sen star in two of these short stories. The film premiered at the I View Film Festival on September 26, 2010. The film had the theatrical release on December 17, 2010.^[4]

Plot

Maanav (Arunoday Singh) is a struggling filmmaker who will not compromise on the script he has written. His girlfriend Ruchi (Shahana Goswami), a successful film editor, arranges for him to meet film producer Nitin (Sushant Singh), who is not very convinced about Maanav's script. Maanav then suggests four stories on infidelity, woven together by a common story. The film itself echoes this structure, with four stories mingling with the main narrative.

Cast

• Konkona Sen Sharma as Lavni / Anita
• Raima Sen as Maya / Manjula
• Ila Arun as Kesar
• Sushant Singh as Nitin
• Boman Irani as Asu Hotmal
• Prem Chopra as Raja Nirgun Singh
• Tisca Chopra as Seema
• Pitobash as Various
• Saurabh Shukla as Satish
• Rajpal Yadav as Kashi
• Shreyas Talpade as Manjul
• Shahana Goswami as Ruchi
• Arunoday Singh as Maanav
• Pushkar Shrotri as Kaushal Bhatt
• Mahie Gill as^[5]

Reception

Upon release, Mirch received mixed reviews from film critics.

Filmfare gave the movie a four star rating stating Mirch is a good showcase for the yet undermined talent of its lead actors. While the women are on top, the movie is a little ho hum like missionary.^[6]

Popular film critics Taran Adarsh puts it this way in his review, “Mirch has two stories in the first half (great) and two stories in the second (disappointing), while the fifth one, which binds all the earlier tales, is a downer as well. Eventually, it falls short of expectations!” He added, “Mirch blends the serious issue of gender equality with the comic flavour of the film well, at least in the first half. But it's the post-interval portions that act as a downer and in turn, makes this Mirch not as spicy.”^[7]

Rajeev Masand of CNN IBN gave it a two and a half star rating explaining "a stronger male lead and some tighter editing might have turned this into a crackling film. As it stands now, it's as appetizing as a half-cooked meal!", and praising the performances by the lead actresses Raima Sen and Konkona Sen Sharma as sexually liberated women.^[8]

Anupama Chopra of NDTV, feels that the director has failed to depict the good theme well. “ Mirch is a sexy idea that doesn’t quite come to fruition, she wrote. “Despite some good moments and smart writing, Mirch isn’t the spicy romp it could’ve been. I’m going with two and a half stars,” she added.^[9]

Soundtrack

Mirch
Soundtrack album by Monty Sharma
Released	2 December 2010
Genre	Film soundtrack
Label	T-Series
Producer	Monty Sharma

The film's songs and film score were composed by Monty Sharma, who had worked on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's previous film Saawariya. The lyrics are penned by Javed Akhtar.^[10] The soundtrack is getting positive reviews from critics.^[11]

Tracklist
No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Kaare Kaare Badra"	Shankar Mahadevan
2.	"Mann Bhi Hai"	Bela Shende
3.	"Mora Saiyyan"	Ila Arun, Girish Chattopadhyay and Chaaru Semwaal
4.	"Tikhi Tikhi Mirch (Folk Version)"	Skalpana Patowary
5.	"Tikhi Tikhi Mirch (Western)"	Akriti Kakkar
6.	"Zindagi Tu Hi Bata"	Kunal Ganjawala, Vaishali Samant and Sharmishtha

Awards

• Won- I-View 2010 Engendered Award for Outstanding Cinema (Popular Choice Award)^[12]

References

1. ^ "Mirch". Indian Express. Dec 10 2010. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Mirch/722090/. 
2. ^ Thakur, Shweta. "It’s action time in desert state". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/Its_action_time_in_desert_state/articleshow/3747219.cms. Retrieved 24 November 2008. 
3. ^ "glamsham.com". Vinay Shukla: MIRCH is not a vulgar film. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/10/dec/04-vinay-shukla-mirch-is-not-a-vulgar-film-121007.asp. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
4. ^ "glamsham.com". Vinay Shukla's MIRCH to release on December 10. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/10/nov/24-vinay-shuklas-mirch-to-release-on-december-10-111002.asp. Retrieved 24 November 2010. 
5. ^ Thakur, Shweta (27 November 2008). "Wooing the wow women". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/Wooing_the_wow_women/articleshow/3759412.cms. Retrieved 27 November 2008. 
6. ^ ".filmfare.com". Review-Mirch. http://www.filmfare.com/articles/mirch-1873.html. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
7. ^ "www.bollywoodhungama.com/". Movie Review-Mirch. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/13941/index.html. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
8. ^ "CNN - IBN". Masand: 'Mirch' is like a half cooked meal. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masand-mirch-is-like-a-half-cooked-meal/137797-47-77.html. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
9. ^ "movies.ndtv.com". Movie Review - Mirch - NDTV. http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_Review.aspx?id=578&pfrom=Movies. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 
10. ^ "glamsham.com". Javed-Shankar-Monty weave monsoon magic with MIRCH. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/09/jul/01-javed-shankar-monty-weave-monsoon-magic-with-mirch-070908.asp. Retrieved 1 July 2009. 
11. ^ Musicaloud (2010). "Mirch - Music Review". http://www.musicaloud.com/2010/12/03/mirch-music-review/. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
12. ^ "Filmicafe.com". ‘Just Another Love Story’ wins best film award at I-VIEW film festival 2010 in NY. http://www.filmicafe.com/news_detail.php?news_id=16244. Retrieved 30 September 2010. 

External links

• Official website
• Mirch at the Internet Movie Database
• Mirch at Bollywood Hungama