Malaal
U/A; Drama/Romance
Director: Mangesh Hadawale
Cast: Meezaan Jaafery, Sharmin Segal
Rating: 

Stories like Malaal did well in the '90s, and soon after, concepts like these begin to fade away from cinema. The film seems like yet another ode to Shakespeare's tale of the doomed alliance between two socially unequal lovers.

Set in the 90s, the film showcases local tapori Shiva (Mezaan Jaffery) meeting good girl Aastha (Sharmin Segal), who pursues chartered accountancy. After she bids adieu to a lavish lifestyle when her father runs into financial trouble, Aastha moves into Shiva's chawl. While their conversations are initially hostile, that they will fall for each other is inevitable. This journey makes the first half of the film a breezy watch. Post interval is when the filmmaker loses the plot. A smoothly-progressing offering is unnecessarily stretched. It may have found resonance had it released two decades ago. But, in the age of Tinder, this plot seems jaded.