User Reviews

Anurag kashyap did it again and started this new year with blast with all round performance in terms of Direction, acting , screenplay but real surprise was music and dialog

Songs was too different and according to situation along with the background score. what Anurag kashyap tried to do give time audience to connect with character and as story progress character grows and you can see different shades of them and you can actually feel their pain, helplessness , anger and their happiness

vineet singh is reallly deserve huge round og appluse for giving outstanding performance not only for acting also for co-screenply writing. Zoya Hussain and vineet singh onscreen chemistry really good and you can actully feel their love on screen

As usual Jimmy shergill and Ravi kishan provided the strenght need for the flim with their acting. overall this movie is really good and all credit goes to anurag kashyap making such a solid movie..

This insightful and true story reveals what is both beautiful and ugly in India and sheds light on what keeps the second most populous country in the world at the bottom of the Olympics. It is also the story of a young couple in love who struggle to live on their own terms in an arena that is far less forgiving than a boxing ring.

Defeating other boxers is the easy part for Shravan. He is tough, well-trained and smart. Troubles really begin when Shravan falls for Sunaina. In the process he picks a fight with her uncle Bhagwan, also Shravan's coach. Next to Bhagwan, Rocky's coach Mickey looks like Miss Kitty. Bhagwan relentlessly punishes and humiliates Shravan with severe beatings, false charges, imprisonment, disqualifications by corrupt officials and more. When he cannot shake Shravan, Bhagwan goes after his support network; torture, kidnapping, rape and robbery. He throws his own brother on the street and breaks his knees. Bhagwan claims to be the victim. "When a boxer is knocked out," he says "it is the coach that bleeds." Shravan tries to turn his anger into positive energy, and funnel it into his boxing gloves and his love for Sunaina.

"Boxing is not a world of glamor like it is in West," said director Kashyap after the film's world premiere in Toronto. This film shows why this is sadly the case. It also provides a balanced snapshot of contemporary India with its amazing colors, song, dances and light, as well as its haze, corruption, crime and debilitating caste system. Actor Vineet Kumar Singh took a year off to train for his role as Shravan, and such thorough preparation is evident in his tremendous performance. The story is too long and disjointed in places, yet all together it is a fantastic, enthralling and dramatic portrait of the hypocrisy and corruption, as well as the beauty and color, in India. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Phantoms are back in action in association with Anand Rai for the first time, witnessed this mind blowing 150 min sports/ political drama a month back in a film festival, if it would have been any other director this one might have been a normal sports film but Kashyap as usual throws light on the reality with huge research on the background of Indian sports and the politics behind it, also involves the social issues the country is facing. Vineet Singh truly has put sweat and blood along with his acting talent to deliver this stellar performance, Jimmy Shergill and Ravi Kisan both joining hands with Kashyap for the first time have done a brilliant job. This one's truly a powerful comeback by Kashyap with literally a PUNCH. Kudos to Kashyap !!! Super excited for 12th January !!!

Vineet Kumar Singh. This name is going to stay forever with you after you done watching Mukkabaaz. With small screen time roles in Anurag Kashyap's Wasseypur Series,Ugly and short film Murabba(part of Bombay Talkies) and Mahesh Manjrekar's Lalbaug Parel, he is not new to the cinema world.

But for the first time he gets to play the lead and he does it with an impeccable performance and what we call Method Acting. With almost 3 years of training , we can see it easily in the movie that he has not only performed but lived it. Very well supported by Jimmy Shergill and Ravi Kishen.Zoya as Vineet's love life does full justice to the role in her debut.

Coming to the direction part , we don't have the chance to find any flaws as the pace even little slow is kept very interesting and moving with a mixture of both commercial and art feel.Editing needs a special mention here.

All in all its a well made movie.

This is the kind of movies that Bollywood needs to make and not the bull shit like 'Tiger Zinda hain' (which I didn't watch after seeing the trailer). Great movie. Good story, acting and direction.

#mukkabaaz 2hrs 35 mins

imdb -8.4/10.

PLOT A lower caste boxer struggles to keep up his career against different odds. Review So.... Anurag Kashyap after a decent film on a serial killer washed his hands for a film(told to be inspired by true events) related with street boxing in the alleys of UP. The film delivers as we all expect from Kashyap's film....brilliant performance,excellent direction and able screenplay.Remember,vineet kumar singh from ugly..he is the main character playing the street boxer shravan singh here.In his role he is more than perfect in his role...well adjectives will be short to describe his performance...he gets under the skin role so well that no one will be able to pick out a signle fault.His body transformation for this film is really inspiring.Jimmy Shergill was excellent in his role as Bhagwan Das mishra..the local goon leader and the villian..his body language and local accent was perfect.Zoya Hussein playing the role of a mute niece to shergill shines in her debut performance.Ravi kishan was also good....but the storyline was bit extended and fails to match the heights of gangs of wasseypur,Gullal...his previous masterpieces but this cinema is just short of achieving a classic tag because it slightly lacks kashyap's signature direction style which is unique.The gripping pace of the film will hold you to the seat but last 15-20mins seems to be forcefully extended. The songs of the film "paintra","Bohot hua samman" nicely fits into the film....this is rare type of sports drama made in bollywood with so much reality involved and must deserve a standing ovation for all the efforts the entire unit has made to create this film...9.2/10......

Anurag Kashyap is redefining himself. I didn't like his last two films Bombay Velvet and Raman Raghav 2.0. But I like this one. I was amazed to see the whole story which was shown to us in trailer was there in first half itself. I got excited to think what the film will tell in the second half. First half was full of love, songs, romance, fight, and happy ending. Second half contains the issues in Government sectors, offices, sports and above all Uttar Pradesh. I wish Ravi Kishan's character had been written more. He suits in his perfectly. Debutant actress Zoya delivers superb expressions. Jimmy Shergil is as usual outstanding. Vineet Kumar Singh is terrific. He is now become star. Everyone knows that he can act superbly. But after this film, everyone would know that he can hold the entire film too. Songs are superb. Mushkil Hai Mel, Pantra, Bahut Dukha hai - Every song has its own charisma. Overall, a very good start of this year with this film. Kashyap, take a bow!

Where Cinderella Man was about a boxer in poverty, played like a very shy, mature and not very angry character by Russel Crowe, and South Paw on the other hand was a very angry boxer; The Brawler is about a boxer who somehow develops a passion for Boxing in all wrong situation. Anuraag Kashyap with all his raw and modern film-making talent, often suffers from the problem of showing a large story in small time frame. It took two movies for him to show Gangs of Wasseypur and in The Brawler also he has tried stuffing too many aspects of not only the realities required for the story but also the things Mr. Kahsyap was touched upon by, for instance the incident of Dadri. The main plot where the director could have elevated the hostility between two strong and opposite characters, while adding to the characters of two, he looks distracted towards other frames of life. There are movies where a huge amount of background stories are added to the characters not by showing all of it but by adding some features or a one liner to the character, for instance the role by joaquin phoenix in The Master, or 15-20 mins performance of Leonardo in Django Unchained. Ravi Kishan and Jimmi Shergil have outdone themselves again; also the Boxer and his wife are played upto the mark, but the character who probably took all the attention without saying too much was the friend of the Boxer, Mr. Gopal played by a very talented actor Shree Dhar Dubey. Mr. Dubey also left is remarkable presence in Masaan but in this film he was given more frames and he has not left a single one without defining to the audience as well as to the other actors also, "what's ACTING is". All in all the movie should be credited with its bold and beautiful story telling. There are always flaws in a product and hence the scope of betterment for the next one. The trauma going around the lead character shown in the movie makes it indigestible to accept that anyone can perform positively while his wife is kidnapped, kidney is broken and the skull is open owing to an iron rod. Also the scene where Bhagwan D Mishra breakes Duhshashan's Janghas seems week due to improper reaction from the wife of Gopal Mishra. The weakest part probably was the climax, but its a practical and most real climax so it is accepted as a story. Apart from Mr. Dubey's performance, the other best performance was from Mr. Ravi Kishan who from his attire (kudos to costume designer), his way of talking without much coming from the screenplay showed how a surviver and struggler from a low caste would behave and advise others.

You can feel tha emotions power and intensity at very high level Just wooow

Film does not provide any intimacy with the character. We got the chance of looking into their life from generalized perspective of average film making. Movie had too many songs and they were good but absence of required absence made them somewhat irritating at times. I did not like the portrayal of the the lead character but it somewhat goes with the way director intended to make the film(well he surely made the physical part look real which deserve every applause). Character portrayal by jimi shergill was also too much weighed on the commercial side but i guess its the thing of casting and director's idea of the film. tempo of the film was too fast for my taste. film had too much content too show in the limited time frame so tempo was mandatory i guess and good film making at such tempo is a tough task. well this tempo is common with all the films of kashyap. Better cinematography could have done great things for the films but it was just another average thing about the film. Lights in the scenes were imbalanced, the intention of the direction of light setting was right but more effort was needed. i sometimes think that cinematographers, art directors like people dont have anything to express of themselves. Does not justify kashyap brand of films

Mukkabaaz is full entertainment package of performance, direction, music, dialogue and message for society. Hats off to Anurag Kashyap (director) (undefined) for sport drama with social issue. Script include Caste discrimination, Beef issue, Bharat Mata ki jai Issue, Struggle in the area of sport, Passion and Love. Dialogues were witty and full of punches e.g. Inki Bidi ka tambakoo khatm ho gaya hain(His cigaretts without Tabocco) and Hum UP ke Mike Tyson hain (I am Mike Tyson of UP). Vineet Kumar Singh mesmerized audience with spell-bounding performance. Debut-ant Zoya Hussain (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zoya_Hussain&action=edit&redlink=1) brilliantly act through expressions. Jimmy Sheirgill another big pillar of this cinema who showcase evilness. Ravi Kishan and Shree Dhar Dubey (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shree_Dhar_Dubey&action=edit&redlink=1) have delivered strong supporting performance. Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Bollywood Film Actor) (undefined) 's guest appearance was catchy. Music was raw and really impressive as Rachita Arora's first music direction in the Bollywood. "Mushkil Hai Apna Meil Priye", "Paintra" and "Bahut Hua Samman" were unique and great one songs.

This film is no Ragging Bull, neither is it anything like Anurag Kashyap's previous works such as "Ugly" and "Black Friday". And this is definitely not a sports drama. But without being any of them it managed to keep me satisfied throughout its long run time. The biggest flaw with the film is quite evident from first of the six acts of the film and it is that the movie tries to be many things at once. The result of it is a classic Indian Curry with various spices such as humour, tension, romance and a tadka of reality. And like every other Indian dish the key to success is not merely having all the spices but knowing when, where and by how much they should be added. Unfortunately the editing, cinematography and sound mixing stoop to very unsatisfactory levels making this movie flawed but edible. But the elements in the movie that work manage to knock you out repeatedly. The acting, direction and dialogues made me want to clap, whistle, shout and cheer. The creativity with which certain scenes move into the next is tremendous. In one particular scene the protagonist's smile is over-laid with the sound of a gun cocking. Its moments like these that constantly manage to bring a smile to your face and keep you entertained throughout the film. While this film will keep the normal Hindi cinema audience very happy it will make someone who looks at this like a work of art ask some serious questions such as- Why on Earth does every scene need to be so darkly lit? This is not Ugly. Where is the kind of sporty action scenes that one would expect from a top notch director like Anurag Kashyap? There were hints of it in the jail fight sequence but that was it. Why have songs been forcefully injected into the film? Why the excessive use of slow motion? Mukkabaaz won't disappoint you if you watch it with no expectations. By the standards of a usual Hindi film Mukkabaaz is excellent but it is no Oscar worthy movie. At the same time if you are a lover of Indian cinema you should definitely watch it. Even if all the flaws I have mentioned in my review have put you off please do watch the film if you love Anurag Kashyap's previous works.

Movie was good till interval after that it was long and boring.

This film comes under cult movie category. Very nice dialog delivery. Every one done his best in his role especially Jimmy Paji. Top class acting by everyone. Super Hit

Anurag Kashyap is without any doubt is one of the best film maker in bollywood and this movie was just a fine example to show his potential as a film maker. He made this low budget movie starring Jimmy Shergil, Vineet Kumar Singh, Zoya Hussain & Ravi Kishan in lead roles with perfection. Through the movie he tried to show the actual condition of Indian society. Setting up a sports drama in a North Eastern state of India where a poor, downtrodden, aspiring boxer struggles with those who have powers.The harshness towards lower strata of Indian society was very well shown. The politics, the corruption behind sports. The supremacy of powerful people is also shown very rightly. The behavior towards woman and backward castes are also indulged in this film. So without any doubt this movie indeed was a mukka of Anurag Kashyap to the Indian Society.

As the experts say "Form is temporary, class is permanent". And Anurag Kashyap has come roaring back to form with 'Mukkabaaz'. Although one can argue that he never was out of form except for 'Bombay Velvet'.

In this do-or-die movie, as stated by Anurag Kashyap himself he shows his true class. The dark narrative, brutish characters are all present in this film. The protagonist Shravan Kumar(Vineet Kumar Singh) is an aspiring boxer from Bareilly who trains under a retired boxer and present state minister Bhagwan Das Mishra(Jimmy Shergill) and falls in love with his mute niece Sunanina(Zoya Hussain). But Bhagwan, a Brahmin treats his boxers more like his laundry boys. This irritates Shravan and the two have an early faceoff.

But Bhagwan is the real Godfather of Bareilly who can clutch anyone he wants under his feet and all he wants is to never let Shravan take part in any Boxing competition ever. This is where Kashyap is a treat to watch. He gives you these Scorsese-Tarantinesque characters who can you flinch with their terror and Bhagwan is exactly the same no-nonsense kind. He has no emotional vulnerability, no principles and will use his whole power to do anything he wants "Kyunki wo Brahman hain,wo aadesh dete hain" and its your duty to oblige.

On the other hand there is Shravan, determined to achieve both his passion and his love. He is ready to fight every situation but is desperately running out of time. Finally he meets Sanjay Kumar(Ravi Kishan) is a Boxing tournament who immediately takes him under his wing. He starts to train Shravan for the State-level Championship, the only way for him to marry Sunanina.

It is only Kashyap's excellence which even makes a love story this dark. You can sense the tension building in the second half but even then its impossible to predict the brutality in the second phase. Its noticeable that the whole focus of the movie is on Boxing and not the romance. Boxing is central to the film thus touching the plight of the sport in the state and country as you hear "Boxing pe picture banti hai to 40 crore kamati hai, par boxing tournament hota hai to chaalis log bhi dekhne nahi aate". The federation is being run by goons turning and twisting the sport according to their own benefits.

Zoya Hussain is a fresh surprise in her debut role. She manages to express the anger of Sunanina beautifully with her eyes without speaking a single work. Ravi Kishan does not have much screen time but is a delight to watch throughout. Its baffling to see how such a talented actor has been underutilized in the hindi film industry. Jimmy Shergill another stereotypes underestimated actor has nothing new which he hasn't done in the past. He plays the same corrupt minister who turns the system as per his own wishes. But he presents himself with such brutality you can literally feel the anger brewing inside you against this man. Though it is Vineet Singh Sharma who captures the screen in his first central role. One of Anurag Kashyap's trusted Banner-men, Vineet is ferocious, flamboyant and flawless at the same time. He makes you feel for Shravan without showing weakness in a single frame.

And what to say about Anurag Kashyap himself. He has made the actors act with their eyes rather than their words. This is where he is at his best. Where he tells the story of an underdog fighting against the system. The dark reality of the small towns where the God-men run the system without any intrusion. He has hit the right straps with 'Mukkabaaz' and we owe it to him for giving such peerless start to the new year. 'Mukkabaaz' sets the benchmark for this year's cinema. Go watch it now you can see the 'Tigers' in Corbett.

Anurag Kashyap is best with the small canvas & stars with less stardom. We have seen his best in Gangs of Wasseypur & this movie is not less than that. Be it story , screen play , acting, dialogs, music. The movie takes the direction within first 7-8 minutes of the start.Jimmy shergil fans wont be disappointed with his screen presence & dialoges.There are many dialoges in which you want to wistle & shout. The movie runs with a constant pace & screen play helps you to be involved in the film completely. Vineet Singh has been brilliant with his performance. Be it ugly or GOW. He had all emotions in the film be it laughter or action. The boxing fight sequels were average but so much happens at the same time that we dont bother for those scenes. In the normar fight sequences he fight like a boxer which was amazing to see unlikely other movies based on boxing were hero fights in the ring differently. Zoya Hussain was fine with the disablily. The other characters were brilliant like Ravi Kishan had a short role but waas sparkling.Shreedhar Dubey as Vineet's friend was ok. Overall you will be amazed to see performance of each character. Watch it if you like Anurag Kashyap movies & also if you are a fan of Jimmi Shergil.

This is one of the very fast paced films that i have seen recently. And hence i feel it is overambitious. Kashyap's treatment of the story is slightly loud but is also honest at the same time. The protagonist Shravan Kumar Singh is almost Salim-Javed's angry young man Vijay with the absence of awareness of what will follow, shall he pursue Zoya, his love of first sight. This absence of awareness in turns makes character innocent and angry, which he himself admits in a lot of dialogues. This mixture of anger and innocence is thoroughly exploited very well by the director. Vineet Kumar Singh's performance is indeed outstanding with a physical transformation which could put the likes of Christian Bales & Aamir Khans to test. Jimmy Shergill, as the antagonist Bhagwan Das Mishra, excels and doesn't put a foot wrong and makes one wonder as to how an innocent looking man such as him could create such a mean character. I haven't such a brilliant villain in the hindi film industry from a long time. Other characters such as Sunaina & Sanjay Kumar are also played pretty well by Zoya Hussain and Ravi Kishan. The dialogues are appealing and gripping with a touch of magic every now and then. The songs and background score are good and in-sync with the story-line. Special Mention - bharat mata scene at the end. meat/assault scene. shree dhar dubey as shravan's friend is great.

It's a masterpiece in every sense. Brilliant story line with well scripted scenes. All the actors have done justice with their characters. The movie is around 2 and a half hour but it seemed much less and throughout the movie you don't loose concentration as all the scene are very well directed.

I was a BIG fan of Anurag Kashyap when he came into the scene after super-hit Dev D and I have managed to watched all movies made by him.

This movie is projected as a love story of an underdog lower caste aspiring boxer from small town in North India in LOVE with a upper caste Brahmin girl.

The story was written by the lead actor Vineet Kumar Singh in lines of Sylvester Stallone's debut Rocky. Vineet had earlier worked with Anurag Kashyap in a few films and was searching for a producer with a caveat stating that - he will play the lead. With Dangal,Sultan, Mary Kom, Bhag Milka Bhaag and other sports films doing good - Anurag found the story idea interesting and agreed to produce, and direct the movie.

After reading positive reviews I was expecting much, but frankly - I was under-whelmed. To a certain extend I understand why and how film buzzes positive reviews by urban city based class (may be caste-based also?) English speaking pseudo intellectual critics. But that is a different topic all together.

I was trying to find out what could one changed in the movie to make it fare better at box office. My answer was "not much" because as many reviewers have written - superb acting,perfect casting, real locales, good setting, hard-hitting dialogues, tight narrative, good humor, good music, social, caste, feminist, corruption issues etc. etc. it has a typical Anurag Kashyap stamp of indulgence as an observer of today's society. One can say - it was a hard-hitting film.

Then I questioned - It is an okay movie, but why it did not appeal me or general population much? I think:

First, The deep connections with main characters and audiences is missing. The only character that connected with me was of Ravi Kishan as a Harijan (lower-caste) coach who instilled dignity to the proceeding - but his role was curtailed half way in the movie.

Second, there are NO inspiring moments to linger to touch our heart and bring tears to our eyes or moments that will stay in one's psyche after leaving the theater.

Third, In Anurag Kashyap's movies there is no poise - his narrative is relentless with intent to shock.

The only thing that remained with me was the often repeated song's lyrics:

"Mushkil Hai Apna Mel Priye Ye Pyar Nahi Hai Khel Priye"

At one point I thought - I was watching a well made Bhojpuri movie. Nothing wrong with that except it had a Anurag Kashyap stamp all over it.

I may be wrong but I think the fault-line runs much deeper.

I think Anurag Kashyap tries overtly hard to make the movies to show his intellectual sensibility acumen. Anurag make movies for International art film noirs/ circuits/ festivals and multiplex based urban elite educated audiences and critics. He is trying hard to make a mass movie with earthy rural and small town topics but till now has failed to appeal to India's hinterlands. May be that is why his movies are only marginal profit making ventures at box office (except Dev.D).

The good thing I like of Anurag Kashyap is that he gives opportunities to new talent in abundance...

I will go with 6 out of 10 rating for this movie.

The movie starts with a quote 'Inspired by true events'. This is where people who come for content find their head held high. It is also because of the person who has directed the movie - Anurag Kashyap. A person who keeps art to its minimum and reality to its maximum, which itself is an art.

For me when I watched the movie, the other two movies that went through my mind were 'Saala Khadoos' and 'Brothers'. There's a saying movies run because of three factors, 3x entertainment.This is where the movie falls as unees bis.

The ending could have been anything just like reality, so no comments on that one.

Acting: Vineet Singh acted really well, so did other actors.

I am comparing it with Gangs of Wasseypur, mostly because I don't think it would get that crowd. The other comparison is of cinema.

Final Verdict: Worth adding to your dvd collection.

Kashyap's works are past an amalgamation of content and execution. The visuals inhale and the music heightens the story. 'Mukkabaaz' is no special case. Shankar Ramen includes his own narrating through each casing. Be that as it may, the two individuals who add life to the story are Vineet and Zoya. Zoya is a genuine disclosure while Vineet will snatch progressively and substantial stuff now forward.

Furthermore, Jimmy Sheirgill! Isko Ladki Kabhi Nahi Milti, we joked So happy he at last does films that do equity to his capacity! Next, a major shoutout to Ravi Kishan for being the quelled but then brave mentor that he was.

Like I said in the title, there are just way too many songs going on in background at one point you have to wonder that they could have written out all the dialogue and just played music in the background.

Story was promising, I don't know what's the scene in UP about this caste and everything but you don't have to make each and every movie about caste politics. You could have focused on the boxing. Though the name of the movie is mukkabaz there is hardly any scene where you get to see the actual boxers intent. The fight scenes are shot like random youtubers and it seriously lacks punch.

And please stop ruining good movies with horrible BGM, you can't even hear the dialogue of actors, I felt like this movie needs subtitles to understand what the character are saying.

Yes, this is something India is searching for years. The films resemble of some hollywood fight films. The story is of a middle class young guy who is fighting for fighting that means he is dying to play boxing and suddenly he falls in love with a girl. Overall the film makes a great drama, sometimes you can't realize this one is a true story. It's an unbelievable true story which you just can't miss.

So if I talk about the acting, there is no fault in acting. everyone does a great acting, the directing was also good and it should be because the director is one and only Anurag Kashyap. But it's true that this is the simplest film by Anurag Kashyap. It's not touchy as Ugly, not more action than gangs of wasseypur, not more violence than Raman Raghav. But it is best in it's own place.

Background score and music directing is average....! My Review(7.5/10)