Film Review – Long Live Brij Mohan: man of lust, no trust

- ADVERTISEMENT -

NEW YORK – The film ‘Brij Mohan Amar Rahe’ (Long Live Brij Mohan), directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, which had its world premiere at this year’s South Asian International Film Festival, in New York, on Wednesday, is about a man who fakes his own death because he is fed up with his life; his wife only cares about money and he is truly in love with his girlfriend Simmi, who only cares about fooling around with him.

To earn more money for his “beloved wife” who keeps taunting him, Brij, played by actor Arjun Mathur, buys a few Bollywood designer lenghas (the one Sonam Kapoor wore in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo) from a local dress shop owner, to sell in his lingerie shop, and in the process of buying the lenghas from the shop owner, Brij realizes he has no money, so the shop owner sends him to a very stubborn broker who lends him the money.

But Brij soon finds out that he was conned by the shop owner as a new lengha is in the market (Deepika Padukone’s Bajirao Mastani one), thus he has sold none and has no money to give back to the broker.

Meanwhile, his wife has sold all of the furniture they own in their small house, so she can get the money for a weight loss competition she wants to participate in.

Tired of his wife’s constant dialogue, Brij decides to run away to Bangkok with Simmi but must first get out of the money mess he has put himself into.

So he goes to the broker to strike a fair deal with him but ends up killing him by accident which brings upon the idea of using the broker to fake his own death, something he has been thinking of doing for a while. He changes his name to Amar Sethi and takes all the cash he finds at the broker’s house.

Simmi is unaware of the crime that Brij has committed, agrees to run away with him and while awaiting the news of his own death, Brij and Simmi check in to a nearby lodge.

As the days go by, there is no news of Brij’s death and Simmi grows bored and turns on Brij’s iPhone, which he turned off after burning the broker’s body along with his car, to take selfies and in the process finds the bag of money and attempts to run away with half of it until she is caught by Brij, who in an attempt to stop her, kills her.

Unaware that Simmi had turned on his iPhone, Brij is soon caught for stealing his own phone and is eventually convicted of his own murder.

So in a matter of days, Brij Mohan not only gives up his identity but also loses his girlfriend, his wife, the money and his life: a well deserving ending for a guy who isn’t capable of keeping anyone happy including himself.

Amongst a background score of golden songs from the olden days, ‘Brij Mohan Amar Rahe’ is a film which deals with a common man’s dilemma of the love and money he does not earn due to his own untrustworthiness. The lead character doesn’t gain any sympathy, however.