Mumbai Diaries 26/11 creator: Nikkhil Advani
Mumbai Diaries 26/11 cast: Mohit Raina, Konkona Sensharma, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Natasha Bharadwaj, Tina Desai, Satyajeet Dubey, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Prakash Belawadi
Mumbai Diaries 26/11, a ground-level account of a national tragedy is perhaps the most important thing that c Nikkhil has ever done. While he may not have set an unreasonable standard, we are talking about the man who created The Empire and Delhi Safari. But Mumbai Diaries is solid by Indian standards.
It is no secret that streamers in India, in an attempt to fill a creative (and market) vacuum, have given green light to every half-formed idea they find. They sacrifice storytelling for the sake of commerce, it seems.
Watch the trailer for Mumbai Diaries 26/11:
As with Advani’s work, Mumbai Diaries’ sensibilities are firmly mainstream. However, there is a sophistication to the filmmaking that we rarely see in local streaming services. Barring a few, of course. Essentially a One Long Day story set during the Mumbai terror attacks of 26/11, the eight-episode drama feels expansive in scope, but is largely restricted to the fictional Bombay General Hospital’s emergency room, led by the brash doctor Kaushik Oberoi (Mohit Raina).
Also Read: AVENGERS & OTHER MARVEL FLICKS MIGHT GET BANNED IN CHINA DUE TO A NEW LAW
The terrific pilot episode also introduces a trio of freshers on their first day at work, a passionate social worker named Chitra Das (Konkona Sensharma, phenomenal, as usual), miscellaneous policemen (both bent and honest), a harried boss who must maintain order at a time of crisis, and scores of patients in need of medical attention. A few blocks away, Dr Oberoi’s wife Ananya is trapped in the middle of an attack at the Taj Hotel (they have named it something else).
The show’s greatest achievement is its ability to flesh out Dr Oberoi, Chitra Das, and other minor characters. Sensharma and Raina give heartfelt performances.
Samarth, who has suffered a terrible personal loss, takes aim at Ahaan Mirza, a Muslim resident doctor. The turbulent night ends with their increasingly heated confrontations. You’ll be left wondering if you should laugh at Advani’s sloppy portrayal of a decades-long conflict or if you should just admire his storytelling.
Mumbai Diaries’s second half decides to make a bold move and go into a Tarantino-esque revisionist historical zone. It is not clear why it would make such a wild swing, even though it had already landed all its punches. This make-believe nonsense takes up around two episodes, and the show ends with a 35-minute episode which functions as a postscript.
However, there is much to be proud of here. Mumbai Diaries is a great place to be, despite falling for the “Good Muslim Trope” and throwing a grenade with subtlety in its face. Although it tends to be preachy towards the end, there are some concessions that can be made when the sermon is so grounded in humanism.
It’s remarkable how Amazon Prime, in the same year that it was dragged through the mud (but not for the right reasons) for making Tandav, has gone ahead and produced something that will surely attract the ire of the IT cells. It’s one thing to release films such as Malik and Kuruthi, both of which fortunately slipped under the radar of the wrong sort of people, but Mumbai Diaries is in Hindi, and about an event in our recent history that affected the entire nation. I anticipate fireworks.
Kabir Khan’s politics aside, Mumbai Diaries stylistically might remind you of Aashiq Abu’s Virus, a Malayalam movie about multiple government agencies working together during the 2018 Nipah outbreak in Kerala. Mumbai Diaries is a social justice fighter, whereas Contagion in Kozhikode was essentially about Contagion. It is a call to unity. However, it briefly touches on themes like domestic violence and mental health.
It’s an ensemble, in the best sense of the term. Mohit Raina shouts quite a bit, but on many occasions, he must convey more complex emotions through silence. He rises to the occasion. Shreya Danwanthary is not able to do that. This is the same actor who played a journalist in Scam 1992. Her character, Mansi makes Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom from Nightcrawler look a lot like Ravish Kumar. She is pure venom and it doesn’t matter how much the show tries, it just isn’t happening.
Mumbai Diaries, to its credit, is not entirely plot-driven. It is willing to let go of the gas at critical points, which allows the story and characters the necessary breathing space. This is when the show examines Dr Oberoi’s marriage and how clinically he is capable of focusing on his high-pressure job. A part of him knows he is an addict.
He would like to believe he is following the Hippocratic Oath when he insists that one terrorist be treated despite protests from the police, but he really does it because he is a good man.
It’s refreshing to see a show so passionate about the idea of decency, that it will risk everything to humanize even the Ajmal Kasab stand-in, I don’t know if you do, but it is. Mumbai Diaries is about that. Even though it’s not as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel it still has the same indomitable spirit it honors.
