A lot of what I like about the Mirzapur franchise can be boiled down to its title theme by John Stewart Eduri. The sound of blacksmiths at work, a minimal bass and synth line, with some light orchestration. Nothing else exemplifies the workman-like focus and the leanness of the early seasons like Eduri’s score. After three seasons of diminishing returns, the show has been rebooted into a feature film, in a parallel timeline when the events of season one concluded. Kaleen Bhaiya (a role that propelled Pankaj Tripathi to stardom in the streaming space) strategically protects his Mirzapur throne, a primary bastion to power in Purvanchal. His son Munna (Divyenndu) is too volatile to automatically be entrusted with it. On the other hand, his widely-respected/feared henchmen, Guddu (Ali Fazal) and Bablu (Jitendra Kumar, replacing Vikrant Massey) prove to be more-than-capable rivals of Munna. The duo is smart enough to deduce that working for a criminal is too much of a risk, especially if it ends with having to be at Munna’s beck-and-call. There’s a natural friction between Munna and Guddu, who love the same girl, Sweety (Shriya Pilgaonkar). As Kaleen Bhaiya tries to ascertain the succession plan of Mirzapur, it is understandable why some in-fighting and outwardly attempts for the throne make for a watchable film.Jitendra Kumar as Bablu and Ali Fazal as Guddu in ‘Mirzapur The Movie’. Photo: Screengrab from Youtube video | Excel Movies.Mirzapur was always meant for Indian theatres, given its derivative, masala origins, while also keeping its wits about to pull a smart one when the audience is least expecting it. I’ve respected the show for taking the harder route, especially in a plot-line filled with stock situations. Also, the colourfully crude language in the show has lent itself to being quoted in memes. It might be an indicator why Excel Production – the studio behind the show from the start – thought this was a worthwhile exercise. However, one also gets the sense that it was primarily a numbers decision. Interest was waning in the third season, and forced to raise the stakes the show had written itself into a dull, gloomy corner. A reboot allows the makers to suck the last bit of marrow out of whatever popularity the franchise has left, by resuscitating old characters, sneaking in the most well-tracked one liners, playing fast and loose with the ‘greatest hits’ of the show, probably helped with data on the spikes in engagement as per Amazon Prime’s algorithm. Ravi Kishan as Babban Yadav in ‘Mirzapur The Movie’. Photo: Screengrab from Youtube video | Excel Movies.The big departure for the reboot is the character of Babban Yadav (Ravi Kishan), a drug lord from Jaisalmer, who is eyeing the Mirzapur throne. Kishan, without doubt an unreliable politician and a limitless repository for new meme formats, is a stupendous addition to the Mirzapur world. He’s so on-brand with the pulpy, campy world of the show that it feels shocking that he wasn’t a part of it for so long. Kishan is a glorious actor for such material, especially the way in his introductory scene – he corrects his wife Mumtaz (Sonal Chauhan), who is humming a song. “Sur chhut raha hai tumhara,” (you’re going off-key) he tells her, and then relishes the last note out of a trumpet when the player is shot. “Adbhut…” (wonderful) he says, while describing it in a later scene. Rasika Dugal as Beena in ‘Mirzapur The Movie’. Photo: Screengrab from Youtube video | Excel Movies.A track about Beena (Rasika Dugal) and her past lover, itching for revenge from the Tripathis, feels like a tacked-on subplot, not serving the film’s 197-minute runtime. I also wasn’t convinced about Munna’s characterisation as a sad puppy, eager for his father’s validation. I thought the first season did a much better job of characterising him as a wild-card, hence making the finale from season one that much shocking. Characters like Rati Shankar Shukla (Shubhrajyoti Bharat), Bauji (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), Golu (Shweta Tripathi), Robin (Priyanshu Painyuli) appear in the film for what seems a dopamine hit for a generation that rewatches the show on social media. Divyenndu as Munna in ‘Mirzapur The Movie’. Photo: Screengrab from Youtube video | Excel Movies.In a stodgy film like this, with these many characters, the actual plot of the reboot is rather sparse. Babban’s grand plan to claim Mirzapur’s throne is to lure Kaleen Bhaiya out of his stronghold under the pretext of a deal, and kill him. So simple. In the last hour, the film keeps going on without a believable moral thesis, and comes dangerously close to looking like franchise slop. I didn’t care about the fate of a single character by the end, all of them trying to shoot and muscle their way out of a vulnerable situation. Guddu’s addiction to steroid pills (and camel stimulant injections) are played up for laughs, despite Fazal trying his best to make his character seem like a cautionary tale.Stray ‘deleted’ scenes play before the post-credit sequence, as if to tease the second season of the film. The machine must keep on churning, but it’s also plenty clear that this once good-bad show is now running on fumes – only capable of delivering facile pleasures. If you don’t ask for more (which many among the Indian audience clearly don’t), then this might get the job done. For my experience, Mirzapur has now seemed for some time, like that lone dancing old man (in one of the most popular memes birthed by the show), long after the music has stopped. Mirzapur: The Movie is playing in theatres.