Paperback Writer
Film: Mastram
Cast: Rahul Bagga, Taea-Alisha
Berry
Directed by: Akhilesh Jaiswal
Duration: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: * *
In terms of the story, Mastram attempts to go
where no film has gone before. It makes an effort to explore the behind-the-scenes
story of the soft porn books that were published and were popular in the 80’s.
But the screenplay by Akhilesh Jaiswal (of Gangs of Wasseypur fame) who has
also directed the film, is all over the place. It artificially explores the
emotions and mindset of a struggling writer and needlessly gets into the
erotica bit.
For a film that is under 100
minutes, it had to be terse and to the point but alas, it is not.
Since it is a unique story, sure it had the
potential but neither the dialogues nor the script delves deep enough to
explore and make it convincing. Set in the 80’s in Himachal Pradesh, a newly
married Rajaram (Rahul Bagga) is an aspiring writer. Pity no one will publish
his novels because they are no good. Add to it, his married life is also slow
to take off.
A reluctant publisher takes a chance on him by
publishing one of his ‘steamy’ stories, lo and be hold, it sells like hot cakes
taking Rajaram on the highway of prosperity. Because of the nature of books, he
writes under the pen name of Mastram and barring the publisher, no one knows of
his identity.
Mastram is strictly a story of an individual
rather than a reflection of the process of soft core books. And even as a story
of an individual it doesn’t score too many points.
The stories in those Mastram
books knew exactly what they wanted to say, the same cannot be said of Mastram
the film.
Published in The Navhind Times on 11th May 2014
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