Mirror Game Ab Khel Shuru movie movie review: Engaging till the last frame

Director: Vijit Sharma

Cast: Parvin Dabas, Pooja Batra, Omi Vaidya, Dhruv Bali

Director Vijit Sharma marks his directorial debut with ‘Mirror Game – Ab Khel Shuru’. The film, which deals with the subject of psychiatric genetics, is engaging till the last frame but the treatment of it lacks commercial value. Vijit has made a fairly decent attempt at making a psychological thriller, sans ‘masala’ and 'nach gaana’, which is typical to Bollywood thrillers, in a surprisingly good fashion.

Jay (Parvin Dabas), a professor of psychiatric genetics, is trying to validate his research on psychiatric genetics. But around the same time, his marriage hits a rough patch. Ronny (Dhruv Bali), Jay's student, wants him to help with his research thesis but, in return, Jay asks Ronny to kill his wife and after much persuasion, Ronny finally gives in to his sadistic demand.

Vikram (Omi Vaidya), a friend of Jay’s, is not in favour of his deadly plan but Jay pays no heed to his advice. The professor, who exhibits symptoms of schizophrenia, avoids medication for over two months. As planned, Ronny kills his wife but, unfortunately, Jay gets embroiled in police investigation. Shonali (Pooja Batra), a psychiatrist by profession, meets Jay to monitor his behavioural changes. Will Jay prove his innocence or Ronny turn his back on him by revealing their plan of action to the cops? This is what you have to find out in ‘Mirror Game – Ab Khel Shuru’.

The best part of Vijit Sharma’s film is that it is so layered that it surprises you at regular intervals. This 100-minute film doesn’t have any interval, adding brownie points to the film. A song-less thriller is what Bollwood needs right now and ‘Mirror Game’ has broken free from the traditional way of Indian filmmaking. The ‘Hollywoodish’ treatment of the film may prove to be the biggest obstacle in wooing Indian viewers. For it is too soon for a Bollywood flick to introduce the untouched genre of no nonsense filmmaking that is beyond the sensibilities of a regular Indian movie goer, but, again, there has to be a beginning.

It is certainly a brave attempt on the part of the makers to invest on such an experimental subject. ‘Mirror Game – Ab Khel Shuru’ is purely a Parvin Dabas film, where he plays the role of a troubled professor, quite well. Despite having a small role, Pooja Batra stands out. Omi Vaidya does not have much to do in the film and is a passable character, an add-on. The transformation of debutant Dhruv Bali from a timid student to a violent player is too good for his first film.

On the whole, ‘Mirror Game’ is an interesting watch but with six other films releasing this Friday along with it, the film is highly likely to meet with a very poor fate. Lack of marketing is one of the glaring factors that should be blamed for it. The only hope is critical acclaim and good word-of-mouth publicity.