Manorama SFU

Before starting to write my views (i am not qualified enough to churn out a review :P) I must confess that I have read numerous reviews, previews, behind the scene diaries etc etc and any resemblance to any such article is purely co-incidental. :D
Khair, I went to watch Manorama with loads of expectations (as it was recommended by Mr. Anurag Kashyap himself) and to sum it all, I didn't return empty handed. Since its a thriller involving lots of twists and turns (sadly most of them happen during second half) so i would not divulge into the details of the story but surely i would like to tell that in spite of being a thriller, it appears to be too slow esp in the first half. The knowledgeable people call it paying homage to the "Noir" genre of 50's but only question I would like to ask is that wasn't the director thinking about aam junta who payed 175 bucks to watch the movie.
Still that takes nothing away from the debutant director Navdeep who shows his brilliance in EVERY frame of the movie. The story is set in Lakhot district in Rajasthan and I am very glad with the way Navdeep has shown the small town and its very small details in the movie. One cant help but notice the funny posters that are a very normal scene in any small town in North India. Also the introduction scene of Vinay Pathak is shown very intelligently. These things showed that the director and his team did their homework well and god how well have they done it!!
Coming to the performances, Abhay Deol delivers yet another good performance but his voice modulation lacks the knockout punch. He looks well prepared physically for the role of a man who has a kid and a wife but wants something more for himself but Abhay looked unprepared mentally for the role. Trivia: Irrfan Khan was to play Abhay's part in the movie but due to lack of finances the director had to settle with Abhay. Surely Irrfan would have taken the movie to another level. Gul Panag is right on target in a role which is of a real(not a saas bahu type) housewife who runs a saloon. She essays the role with such an ease that we wonder why the industry hasn't given her more chances. Only thing which i didn't appreciate in her role was her posh accent which could have been altered for the role which shows her to hail from Rohtak. Raima Sen average in her outing but clearly needs to improve on the dialog delivery. The supporting cast is TOPNOTCH. The character of Abhay's intruding/jealous yet submissive neighbor is simply too good (played by the same guy who played Suggi in Haasil). Even the tiny one-second-zero-dialog role of his wife and her neighbor is amazing. Sarika doesnt has much to do in the movie and Kulbhushan Kharbanda is yet again totally reliable as a scheming politician. Vinay Pathak is simply awesome and I wished he had some more of the screen time. Lastly the characters of two goons are quite properly etched and provide some relief in the first half.
Though it was slowly paced in first half, still i liked the movie due to the braveness of the director and the treatment he gave to the subject. This movie stands out amongst the Dhamaals, Hey babyys and Dhols which are being lapped up by the junta. I was disheartened to see quite few people in the audi and heard that Dhol had 80% opening.

Lastly I want to confess that I havent seen Chinatown yet and even if the director has copied frame by frame of the classic (which i dont think is true), still i would laud his effort as very few people would have done Chinatown in Lakhot and fewer would have done it so brillantly.

(I dont like to give stars to the movie so dont scroll down for stars or ratings :P)

EDIT-- I missed out on Vinay Pathak (That happens when u blog while in office)..khair added it now!!
--Dubey