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"Director:  Vishal Bhardwaj Screenwriter:  Vishal Bhardwaj Starring:  Pankaj Kapur, Shabana Azmi, Imran Khan, Anuskha Sharma, Arya Babbar Running time:  147 mins; Certificate:  UA  Vishal Bhardwaj has a reputation for brilliant storytelling and quirky characterisation that tests an actor&amp;#039;s mettle and makes for memorable cinema, from Omkara&amp;#039;s despicable Langda Tyagi to Saat Khoon Maaf&amp;#039;s murderous Susanna.  Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is replete with idiosyncratic characters who form the unlikely, but brilliant framework for a diatribe around the serious subjects of landownership, corruption, social class and communist ideology versus capitalism, while channelling the Bard. It&amp;#039;s Lagaan meets Shakespeare, but on acid. Mandola (Kapoor) is the drunkard, wealthy landowner of a Haryana village. Matru (Khan) is his driver and Man Friday who is in love with Mandola&amp;#039;s unattainable and untamable daughter Bijlee, (Sharma). Succumbing to his own lustful greed and the manipulations of the conniving Chaudari Devi (Azmi), Mandola conspires to seize the land from the farmers and effectively barters his loyal daughter in marriage to Devi&amp;#039;s son Baadal (Babbar) to seal the deal. As the battle to claim the land unfolds, the characters undergo a personal transformation as they each face their own demons.  With eccentric players, pink buffalo and African dancers, there is so much to take in in this film that initially, you are baffled as to where it&amp;#039;s all leading. It&amp;#039;s a slow burning opening as the characters make their entrances, but you&amp;#039;re fully compensated with an array of fantastically outlandish scenes driven by compelling performances and a story based on the cruel reality of power and corruption. The allusions to Macbeth are no accident and the characters have the kind of pathos you&amp;#039;d find in Shakespeare&amp;#039;s clowns and tragic-heroes. Sharma comes to the fore in key scenes such as her conspiratorial charade with Matru and the hilarious drunken wedding sequence. We witness her final unravelling as she becomes her father, turning to alcohol as she too prepares to sell-out by marrying the unworthy, but suitable imbecile, Baadal. It&amp;#039;s a characteristically uninhibited performance by Sharma who delights. Khan too manifests his character in a comparatively subdued performance, holding his own in the outlandish comic sequences with Kapur, yet conveying the silent stirrings of rebellion as Matru conquers his self-doubt and literally takes the pink bull by the horns and rallies the villagers to reclaim their power. Pankaj Kapur is in a class of his own and his portrayal of the eclectic Mandola is utterly outrageous but brilliant. It helps that he is so ably matched by Shabana Azmi, the Lady Macbeth of the piece, who defies gender expectations by dint of her evil manipulations. The two together are captivating. Though it is masterfully shot and scripted, with impeccable dialogue, the marrying of social commentary with comedy might not be everyone&amp;#039;s bag, but the imagination of Vishal Bhardwaj is a wonder to behold and his unique exposition of Shakespeare&amp;#039;s themes in an authentic Indian milieu is to be marveled at. It is an extraordinary feat of madcap genius and a bold indictment of the lunacy of a world gone crazy in which, to quote Macbeth&amp;#039;s witches, &amp;#039;foul is fair and fair is foul&amp;#039;.  Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is a zany satire that will leave you either mesmerised by its brilliance or just a little dazed by its surface-level lunacy.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/bollywood/review/a450502/matru-ki-bijlee-ka-mandola-review-lagaan-meets-shakespeare-on-acid/>