The
Miranda
Brothers
is
short
on
humour,
romance
and
real
drama,
observes
Deepa
Gahlot.
Director
of
all
those
gangster
dramas
like
Kaante
and
Shootout
At
Wadala,
Sanjay
Rajprakash
Gupta
—
as
he
calls
himself
these
days
—
scales
down
to
a
bro
flick
on
OTT
with
football
as
its
backdrop.
That’s
probably
why
The
Miranda
Brothers
is
set
in
Goa,
one
of
the
few
places
in
India,
where
football
is
taken
seriously.
But
nobody
in
the
film
actually
sounds
Goan;
they
drop
words
like
‘manzil‘,
‘maqaam‘
and
‘faasle’.
There
are
enough
English
lines
but
no
charming
Goan
accent.
Lead
actors
Harshvardhan
Rane
and
Meezaan
Jafri
must
have
been
cast
for
their
abs
rather
than
acting
talent.
They
are
the
titular
brothers:
The
hotheaded
Julio
(Rane)
and
the
gentle
Regalo
(Jafri).
Regalo
had
been
abandoned
outside
a
church
and
adopted
by
Susan
Miranda
(Mansi
Joshi
Roy).
She
is
a
helicopter
mom,
baker
and
activist,
protesting
a
power
station
in
Goa.
Regalo’s
adopted
status
gives
him
the
right
to
lecture
a
young
woman
against
terminating
her
pregnancy.
Later
in
the
film,
she
says
she
wishes
he
were
the
father.
‘Next
time,’
he
says.
An
unintentional
comic
moment
there,
in
a
film
short
on
humour,
romance
and
real
drama.
The
two
romantic
interests
are
wispy
enough
to
be
almost
invisible.
For
a
large
part
of
the
film,
Julio
and
Regalo
just
wander
around
singing
and
dancing.
They
also
play
football
for
a
local
club,
and
hope
to
play
for
the
Goa
Premier
League,
which
is
—
repeatedly
said
—
their
way
out
of
‘here’.
They
live
in
a
large
house
with
a
gazebo
in
the
garden,
not
exactly
starving
in
a
slum.
Besides,
since
when
is
playing
football
in
a
local
team
a
ticket
to
paradise?
The
local
don
Morocho
(Rahul
Dev)
is
somehow
interested
in
the
outcome
of
the
deciding
match
because
he
has
his
fingers
in
everything
that
happens
in
Goa.
Susan
gets
mowed
down
by
a
car,
witnessed
by
Regalo,
who
says
he
didn’t
notice
anything
that
could
identify
the
driver.
Julio
flies
into
a
rage,
seeking
revenge.
The
one
who
looks
more
shattered
than
the
sons
is
their
coach
(Sanjay
Suri),
simply
because
he
is
a
better
actor.
In
one
of
those
coincidences
that
happen
mostly
in
films,
the
mother’s
funeral
is
on
the
same
day
as
the
final
match
that
will
decide
if
the
Miranda
Brothers
will
make
it
to
the
League.
When
offered
a
contract,
Regalo
refuses
to
sign
unless
his
brother
is
included
too.
The
big
day
dawns
and
all
that
drama
that
had
been
left
simmering
on
a
stove
is
brought
out.
This
is
also
where
Regalo’s
adoption
matters
to
the
story.
Kader
Khan
would
have
written
some
mamta
ka
karz
kind
of
dialogue
here,
and
the
actors
of
his
time
might
have
had
the
audiences
shedding
some
tears
too.
But
those
days
are
long
gone.
The
Miranda
Brothers
streams
on
JioCinema.
The
Miranda
Brothers
Review
Rediff
Rating:
