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Does the film succeed in casting its magical spell on the audience like its impressive trailer, let's find out

Title: Mayasabha

Director: Rahi Anil Barve

Cast: Jaaved Jaaferi, Mohammad Samad, Deepak Damle and Veena Jamkar

Where: In theatres near you

Rating: 2 Stars

First things first. The film’s impressive trailer skyrocketed everyone's expectations . Will these expectations translate into a ‘gold’ winner or will it fizzle out is what we will be finding out.

The film starts with a young man named Vashusen aka Vashu (Mohd. Samad) introducing a ‘ghost theatre’, which belongs to his father Parmeshwar Khanna (Jaaved Jaaferi), a former successful film producer but is presently mentally challenged with his ego intact.

Rumors have it that, during his hay days, Parmeshwar had hidden 40 Kgs of gold inside the theatre, but had forgotten the exact location because of his deteriorating mental health. Seizing an opportunity, there enters Zeenat (Veena Jamkar) and Raorana (Deepak Damle), who befriend Vashu to get access to Khanna’s seamless wealth.

Even though Parmeshwar Khanna understands their ulterior motives, still, he keeps them ‘engaged’ with various clues in order to lay their hands on the hidden gold. It's during an altercation between Parmeshwar Khanna and Zeenat that the latter blurts out the most painful and hidden truth of the former.

Is Parmeshwar Khanna more than what meets the eye, what happens to him, Zeenat, Raorana and yes… the pot of gold is what forms the rest of the film.

Actors’ Performance

The film stands on three main pillars viz., Jaaved Jaaferi, Veena Jamkar and Mohd. Samad (in that order). As far as the performances are concerned, it's the veteran actor Javed Jaaferi who excels in the role of a former filmmaker struggling with his present in a theatre which once made him the most sought after person.

The conviction with which Javed approaches his character will make you resonate with his emotional roller coaster. On a close second is Veena Jamkar who does full justice to her role of a scheming woman. The ease with which she switches her emotions is commendable. Mohd Samad, on the other hand, uses his innocence and baby face as his weapon to deliver a sparkling performance. Even though Deepak Damle has comparatively lesser screentime, he shines in his allotted screen space.

Music and Aesthetics

As for the direction, Rahi Anil Barve attempts to pull off a Hollywood style flick with Mayasabha. While one would want to laud him for his efforts, the hard fact remains that the end product seems like a convoluted mixture of way too many things.

In the name of making a ‘dark’ film, he actually landed up making a dark film. Certain places should have been shown lit up as it would have helped the audience to get convinced about the scene. Considering that the Indian audiences are just opening up in fathoming films of this genre, Rahi slightly had to lighten up the darkness.

The film’s cinematography by Kuldeep Mamania is appreciable, on the other hand, Aasif Pathan’s editing could have been furthermore taut and on-point in the first half. The editing in the film's second half is absolutely mind blowing.

In a film of this genre, since there is no room for songs, it's the background score by Sagar Desai that walks hand in hand with the film’s narrative and takes it forward.

FPJ Verdict

Considering the average Indian's taste in films, a film of this (dark) nature may just not be welcomed with open arms at the box office. Added to that is the lack of publicity for the film.

Since this film is purely restricted to a certain type of genre of film lovers before him it will have a strong appeal, it could suffer at the box office in the days to come. You can watch the film if you have nothing else to do this week or if you love the dark side of films.