Matto Ki Saikil Review - Prakash Jha's Steady Driving Saves This Rural Bicycle From Heavy Damage

A well-known filmmaker, Prakash Jha, appears as the lead hero in M. Gani's Matto Ki Saikil. We all know that there is less scope for artistic films made on a low budget unless they have something really extraordinary in them. Matro Ki Saikil wants to be extraordinary but never goes beyond the ordinary line. The film has a very personal concept at its core, which is unlikely to get a wider reach, especially amongst the regular moviegoers who hardly watch artistic and slow films in theatres. An OTT release would have been a better option, but after watching the film, I even doubt that. Prakash Jha as the protagonist stays a level higher than the entire film, and that's the best positive brief I can give here.Matro is a daily-wage labourer in a remote rural village with green fields. As Matto is responsible for the livelihood of his wife and two young daughters, he takes a daily long distance journey on his bicycle, which is heavily worn out after riding for two decades. As you can see in the trailer, one day an accident occurs and his bicycle is damaged. It becomes useless and that affects his daily wages, and so his food. It may look like a minor problem to someone, but it leaves an irreparable wound in his circumstances. Will he be able to return to the life of feeling the little happiness of everyday life again? How will he battle out the economic crisis and feed his family? Matro Ki Saikil has all the answers with a realistic sense of cinema.Written by M. Gani, Matto Ki Saikil is a very ordinary story because it follows the life of a very ordinary man. It never tries to be tricky, extra impressive and over dramatic. Maybe that's what has gone wrong with it. Matto Ki Saikil makes no concrete conclusions that you haven't seen before. We have all seen the problems of poor villagers in many films before, and we also know that their lives (in movies) don't end up on a happy note. So what else has Matto Ki Saikil got other than this? Nothing. One has to be very patient about the whole thing because the screenplay is slow, despite having a short runtime of less than two hours. Why does it run slow when the writer knew that he didn't have highly engaging conflicts to show later? The film will leave you with this question, and you'll get no answer.Any realistic film you see has to have realistic performances. You can't have non-talented actors who struggle to give regular shots even with retakes. Prakash Jha is not a full-time actor, but what a fantastic actor he is. He has performed much better than 90% of Bollywood superstars who are in industry for years, and yet haven't given one such performance to remember. His dialogue fumbles, but not his body language. He is into the character, like fully, all immersed and occupied by characteristics. The film does not give many chances to other actors, to be frank, but allows them to roam freely instead. Anita Choudhary, Aarohi Sharma, Idhika Roy, Dimpy Mishra, CP Sharmaa and Aryan Madar have done a decent job.Matto Ki Saikil has some positive points such as good performances and hardcore realism. But the film lags behind due to overuse of the same. It lacks dramatic nuances and new, interesting objects to make the subject look sympathetic. M. Gani's writing is at fault, not his direction. He does everything that any other sensible director would have done with this script. After all, it is an artistic film, not a commercial potboiler, so he couldn't go with mainstream flaws. It works in parts for sure. As a whole, Matto Ki Saikil had a huge potential to become a silent burn, but missed the opportunity due to its not-so-worthy storyline. It can be watched once to acknowledge Prakash Jha's brilliant acting skills and a few impressive scenes, but otherwise it's an average journey on a traditional two-wheeler.