Usually we give a poor rating to the delivery boy for many reasons like, if the delivery boy arrives late, if the wrong parcel is delivered, if the food is not hot, etc. The same is the case with this film Zwigato, it deserves a poor rating. Zwigato doesn’t deliver what it has to.
We usually have a soft corner for all those lower middle class people like watchman, cleaner, delivery boy, lift man, sweeper, plumber, electrician, waiter, driver, etc., who work so hard to fulfill their basic needs. There are many invisible ordinary people who work day and night and struggle to live their life. Zwigato is also the story of a couple who are not doing a respectful job and working hard day and night to fulfill their basic needs. Husband works as a delivery boy and the wife works at a mall as a cleaner. But you don’t feel much for the characters and the writing is at fault here. When you are showing a struggling story of a middle class person, your film should be inspiring enough and one should feel for the character, but that’s not the case here in Zwigato.
I remember watching Hansal Mehta’s Citylights which shows the story of a middle class couple who come to a metropolitan city in order to live a better lifestyle and what challenges they face. Here in Citylights you feel for the characters and are engaged in the film.
After losing his job as a factory-floor manager during the pandemic, Manas (Kapil Sharma) becomes a driver for a food-delivery app called Zwigato. With a familiar rectangular backpack, he zips around Bhubaneswar on his motorcycle, steering through another day of inconvenient obstacles, impatient customers, grappling with the app on his phone for ratings and to earn incentives. He struggles to make ends meet for his wife, Pratima (Shahana Goswami), his two children, and an ailing mother. Simultaneously, Pratima, a homemaker, begins to explore different work opportunities to support his income. From being a masseuse for rich women to a cleaner at a mall. How the couple overcomes all the odds, what problems they face and how they struggle to live a decent life is Zwigato all about.
Talking about performances, Kapil Sharma who makes us laugh gets a serious role in this film and does a decent job. He actually looks like a delivery boy in the film. Shahana Goswami lived the character of that middle class housewife. Cameos of Gul Panag, Swanand Kirkire and Sayani Gupta are unnecessarily added and don’t support the narrative much.
Direction of Nandita Das is very weak. She doesn’t try to show things effectively. Whatever she shows seems off track. Manto was also very slow and the direction of Nandita was also very weak, hence the film ended up being crap. Even the performance of Nawazuddin couldn’t save Manto. Screenplay of Zwigato is too slow. Runtime of the film is only 105 mins but the film seems to be too long because of the mundane narrative. After one point of time, the film seems to be too repetitive because the screenplay doesn’t have anything to offer. There are so many unnecessary scenes which don’t have anything to do with the story. It seems that these scenes are added forcefully just to keep the show running. Even some scenes don’t have any proper answers and are left incomplete.
Zwigato could have been much better if it would have shown something which the audience could connect and relate with. Zwigato has many scenes where you can see the struggle of these invisible people who are living in the same society as us, like even 10-20 rupees are of much importance to them, doing a low grade work just for satisfying their hunger and basic needs, insults by higher class people, adjustment in society, lower class people being oppressed by higher class people, etc. After watching these scenes you won’t feel pity for those characters because they are being presented very badly. There is a dialogue in the film which hits you hard – Woh Majdoor Hai Isi Liye Majboor Hai (He’s a laborer that’s why he is helpless) Yaa Phir Woh Majboor Hai Isi Liye Majdoor Hai (Or maybe he’s helpless that’s why he’s a laborer).
Zwigato seems like a motiveless film which gets the basics wrong and is not able to find the address, where the food is to be delivered. A film like Zwigato is not meant for the big screen. This could have been easily dumped on OTT just like the other craps. This film is an unbearable torture. Zwigato fails to deliver properly and deserves a poor rating for it’s bad services.
Rating – 2/5*
Watch the trailer below:
