LIFF 2016 Review ~ MOH MAYA MONEY

The Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) presents another outstanding screening of the crime-thriller, Moh Maya Money, which DESIblitz are proudly supporting.

The screening was followed by a Q&A session with the film’s director, Munish Bhardwaj, who was also the executive of Rajat Kapoor’s award winning, Ankhon Dekhi (2013).

Well-known Bollywood actors, Ranvir Shorey and Neha Dhupia, star in the lead roles.

Moh Maya Money (“In Greed We Trust”) revolves around an ambitious and crooked real-estate broker Aman Mehra (Ranvir Shorey) who misuses money from the firm he works for and gets involved in scams. But the earnings of his swindles are not sufficient for his greed.

When he becomes aware of a major deal in his company, he passes it on to a small-time real estate broker and a thug, for a bigger piece of the pie. Soon, he gets involved in a white collar crime after which things go way out of control!

One must applaud Munish and the co-writer Mansi Nirmal Jain for writing a script which does not simply represent greed, but immorality as a whole. Every stage in the film, there are twists and they are thrown at the audience when they least expect it.

Talking of his inspiration on writing the story, Munish exclusively tells DESIblitz:

“There was a time when I used to read a lot of newspapers. What used to intrigue me is how the most common people were committing the most gruesome crimes. That’s when you start the journey of writing this film. For me, it took 9-10 months to write it.”

Considering that this is Munish’s directorial debut, he does a decent job. There were several scenes which were quite impressive. For instance, the confrontation scene between Ranvir and Neha.

Both actors are sitting on the side of the bed, with their heads down and tearful, looking away from each other. In between them is a suitcase of clothes. The suitcase, in this scenario, symbolises the ‘bag of troubles’ which acts as a hurdle in their relationship. How ironic!

Another strong factor of Moh Maya Money is the narrative structure. In the first half is told through the perspective of Ranvir’s character, Neha’s character and then through both their characters. Plus, the story is not linearly narrated. Munish discussed this in the Q&A:

“Initially the first draft was a linear script. It was quite a boring film. I left this and wrote something else. While I was writing the other script, the idea came to me of doing a non-linear structure.”

Credits go to Hitesh Kumar for the swift and smooth editing.

Alongside the story and direction, the background score also enhanced the tense atmosphere in the movie. Kudos to the Tuomas Kantelinen for maintaining the audience’s attention.

Now, moving onto the performances. Munish explains why he chose Ranvir and Neha as the main leads to DESIblitz:

“Both of them are my very close friends. The first instinct for me is to go and work with friends, because that is the most comfortable environment you can create around you,” he laughs.

Ranvir Shorey once again shines in this very complex character. There are shades of grey in him. His last character in Titli was definitely more aggressive and negative, but somehow in this film, the audience sympathises with his situation. He’s completely natural.

It has been a while since we’ve seen Neha Dhupia appear in a meaty role. In Moh Maya Money, she exhibits a range of emotions from love to hatred. Her performance during the emotional quotients leaves an impact.

In this film, one is assured that Neha has matured as an actress. By the way, look out for her in the climax. She’ll shock you!

One actress who really impresses is Vidushi Mehra. She essays the role of a frustrated pregnant woman whose husband is missing. Initially, the audience is reminded of Vidya Balan’s role in Kahaani.

But the good thing about Vidushi’s acting is that she could’ve easily gone overboard with the tearful scenes. She gets the balance the right.

Devender Chowhan, Ashwath Bhatt and Anant Raina do well in their respective roles.

Any negatives? Well, one wishes that the camerawork and cinematography could have been more smooth and apt. However you will not even imagine what the funding of Moh Maya Money is.

Watch our Q&A with director Munish Bhardwaj here:

The director also mentioned that the film was made on a shoestring budget, with some of the additional cast members working on a voluntary basis. Bearing this in mind, Munish ensures that the film does not drag and the narrative progresses well.

Overall, the suspenseful plot of Moh Maya Money is the hero of the film.

It is greatly written by Munish Bhardwaj and Mansi Nirmal Jain. The twists and turns in the movie will leave the audience hanging!

To find out more about film screenings and special screen talks across London and Birmingham, visit the London Indian Film Festival website.