Mili Review: Engaging survival thriller aided by fine performances but lacks the nerve-wracking and gripping intensity
Mili Movie Rating: 3 Stars
Finally watched Mili movie on Netflix. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Sunny Kaushal and Manoj Pahwa
Director: Mathukutty Xavier
Release Date: 4th November 2022 in Cinemas & digital premiere from 31st December 2022 on Netflix
Story: Movie revolves around Mili (Janhvi Kapoor) resides in Dehradun with her father Niranjan (Manoj Pahwa). She is a Nursing graduate who wants to seek a job in Canada as the pay is better there. She attends coaching classes to crack the entrance test and works in a plush fast-food joint in a posh mall to make ends meet. She has a boyfriend Sameer (Sunny Kaushal) whose existence she has hidden from him. Sameer is also searching for a good job and is a bit of a slacker and this aspect is frowned upon by her. She wants him to be more responsible and that’s her condition for marrying him.
One day, while they’re returning together on his bike Sameer is stopped by the SI Satish (Anurag Arora) for not wearing the helmet and later is brought to the police station on suspicion of drunk driving. This alienates him to Mili’s father and causes a rift among them. He finds a job in Delhi and is all set to leave. Mili is inadvertently locked in the cold storage of her restaurant by her manager Sudheer (Vikram Kochhar) the same night she’s leaving. Her phone is kept outside, and she has no way of reaching out to anyone. Her concerned father contacts friends and neighbors and later the police but she’s nowhere to be found.
When Sameer finds out about it, he returns back and joins the hunt. How she survives minus 16 degrees temperatures for close to five hours before being found forms the crux of the film.
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Story
3. Direction
4. Climax
5. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Music
2. Length
3. Screenplay
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on digital premiere because skipped theatrical watch as looks good in parts only.
Mili Naudiyal is a 24-year-old nursing graduate from Dehradun, hopes to move to Canada for better prospects, until she lands herself in the soup. She gets locked inside the walk-in freezer of a fast-food joint and must do whatever it takes to survive this unusual death-trap.
Mili is an official remake of Malayalam Helen. The story is quite unusual. The screenplay is reasonably fast-paced and, therefore, keeps the audience’s interest alive. Although more than half the drama sees Mili trapped inside the cold storage room, the writers have intelligently interspersed her suffering with scenes of the outside world of her dad, boyfriend etc. searching for her. There are some nail-biting moments which keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Yes, the drama does tend to become a bit repetitive, but it doesn’t slip into the boring territory because of the other happenings. Besides the scenes of Mili’s predicament, the scenes of the father’s anxiety, the boyfriend’s worry, the uncooperative police officer’s behavior, the friends’ concern, the security guard’s revelation are all exciting, thrilling and even heartwarming.
Mathukutty Xavier’s direction is wonderful. He has not only extracted great work from his artistes but has also made an exciting film in spite of a story which gives him limited scope to play. The emotional scenes provide a fine balance to the thriller sequences. On the flipside, the first half is slow and too much time is taken before the director arrives at the principal track of the protagonist being stuck in the freezer. At some places in the second half as well, one can feel that the film is dragging. Janhvi Kapoor delivers yet another bravura performance. She hardly has any dialogue in the second half but watch out for how she pulls off the difficult act. A R Rahman’s music is poor. Not a single song stands out. Overall, movie is an edge-of-the-seat entertainer having an emotional undertone. It is gripping thriller and is aided by a very fine performance but lacks the nerve-wracking, gripping intensity. My view on this movie Time Pass
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