Did Sundeep Kishan's brilliant film Michael suffer due to ill-conceived reviews?

There is no doubt that the new Sundeep Kishan film Michael is an impressive experience. It is a gangster film that  makes sense, Kuttey being the most recent film of the genre which made zilch sense, and which doesn’t use foul language to show gangsters in a negative light.

And yet the reviews have been less than reasonable, comparing Michael absurdly to KGF when the two films are as similar as Pathaan and Faraaz. Just because there is a lot of action in both Michael doesn’t become another KGF.

Lekin innko kaun samjhaye? To turn time-tested  traditional formulistic themes into  refurbished revivified  experiences as Vamshi Paidipally and Ranjit Jeyakodi have done in the new Vijay starrer  Virusu  in Tamil  and the Sundeep Kishan starrer Michael, respectively, is  not an easy task.

And yet we have an  ill-informed especially stupid review of Michael describing the film as a “wannbe KGF”(I repeat, no similarities  between  the  two)  and  it further  asks pompously,  “Why do we need yet another ‘pan India’ film about gangsters that has nothing new to offer?”

Why not? Why can’t we have more  pan-India films about gangsters?

Sundeep is unfazed by the unfair criticism. “We wanted to pay a homage to the cinema of the 1980s and 90s. In fact at the end when my characters locks himself in a godown with  a  bunch of  aggressive goons, this is meant to be a  direct tribute to Bachchan Saab in Yash Chopra’s Deewaar.”

As far as the sadly misconceived reviews go, Sundeep is all for  constructive  criticism.  “Tell me where we went wrong. So  we won’t  make the same mistakes  again. We  are  very proud of Michael. And  the audience loves it. They are  getting the point. Our hard  work has paid  off.”

Sundeep spent months getting into the correct shape to play Michael.

“It would be nice to get some appreciation for the hard work rather than being constantly told  we are not good enough, and worse being compared  unfavourably with  other films.” says Sundeep.

Sundeep suffered many bruises  and much battering. “But it was  all worth  it. I  think we’ve made a film we can all be proud of.”

 But  more than the action it is his co-star  Vijay  Sethupati that Sandeep is most excited  about.

Says Sundeep, “I was apprehensive  as  to  what it would be  like working with Vijay Sir.It was actually very easygoing and  enjoyable. He is  so down-to-earth. I  got to learn so  much about him and about cinema and life by just hanging around with him. After a while  I forgot I was interacting with  THE Vijay Sethupati.”

Shooting for Michael was a breeze  for Vijay. “ I think the relaxed atmosphere during shooting  also came from Vijay Sir’s decade-long camaraderie with our director Ranjit Jeyakodi. It was a beautiful learning experience. There is much to learn from  Vijay Sir.”

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.

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