Miss U Miss review: Confused effort with lazy screenwriting

First-time director Shyam Nimbalkar’s Miss U Miss starts with a bizarre meeting between two strangers. Adhiraj Mane (Bhagyesh Desai) enters a pub wearing a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) jersey to watch their IPL (Indian Premier League) match against Mumbai Indians (MI). He sits near Dr Preeti Mohite (Tejaswi Patil) who is wearing an MI jersey and cheering for MI.

Suddenly, Mane also starts cheering for MI to make Mohite feel good. The two get talking and realize they are both broken souls. Mane has gone through a divorce while Mohite recently broke up with her boyfriend. Then all of a sudden they start fighting like schoolchildren for a flimsy reason and part ways.

The sudden meeting and separation does not make a good impression at all. But you at least know the film is about two lonely persons who are looking for love again.

That's what you think! The writer has other plans.

Mane and Mohite patch up just as quickly and she shares another sad story. Her father Dinkar (Mohan Joshi) and mother Madhuri (Ashwini Ekbote) have separated and are heading for divorce. She has been trying to bring them together on their wedding anniversary each year, but has failed miserably so far.

Mane volunteers to help bring Dinkarrao and Madhuri Mohite together. Now why should Bhagyesh Desai’s character jump into the Mohites’ private affairs considering he just got introduced to Preeti? Well, maybe because Desai is also the story, screenplay and dialogue writer, not to mention music composer.

From here on, the film's focus is the attempt to bring Dinkarrao and Madhuri together. But while the elderly couple's impending divorce becomes the backbone of the story, we are never told why they separated in the first place. So, why should you feel for the two or root for them to reunite?

When the main story is dealt with in this shoddy way, one cannot expect any light to be thrown on Mane and Mohite’s past relationships either. And one is right on the button.

The lazy writing is also visible in the way Mane and Mohite’s unusual relationship is dealt with. For example, Mohite takes Mane along to her father’s place to stay, then to her mother’s. On both occasions she just introduces him with a cursory ‘This is Adhiraj.’ That’s it! No explanations. And neither the father nor the mother ask if he is a friend, a boyfriend, a colleague or someone else! Neither has any interest in knowing who is this guy travelling with their daughter. And neither has any problem giving him room to stay either.

The climax is not hard to guess. And the film takes painfully long to get there. Though the runtime is just 121 minutes, the second half feels never-ending, filled as it is with unnecessary and immature sequences and dialogues.

The only saving grace, to an extent, is Mohan Joshi. The veteran is at ease and his comic timing is good. Ashwini Ekbote’s act is mature, but only in parts. Tejaswi Patil does possess acting skills, but her character is said to be 25 years old, which is hard to believe.

Bhagyesh Desai is the only weak link as far as the acting performances go. It is not that he is a bad actor; he has been badly miscast. He is not the kind of hero you need for such romantic comedies. Worse, he, too, is referred to as a ‘boy’ on numerous occasions in the film, which is difficult to accept. Like the movie itself.