FILM REVIEW: MAYASABHA "Mayasabha is not a political drama - it is a loud, hollow, and painfully confused film that mistakes noise for relevance and ambition for cinema."

BY Suyash Pachauri | Global Bollywood | Directors Daily Clapboard

Introduction

Mayasabha is not just a disappointing film; it is a painfully exhausting cinematic experience that tests the audience’s patience, intelligence, and tolerance in equal measure. What promises to be a powerful, politically charged, and emotionally layered drama ends up becoming a confused, noisy, and hollow spectacle that collapses under the weight of its own misplaced ambition.

From the very first scene, the film makes it clear that it has no idea what it wants to be. Is it a political thriller? A social drama? A mass entertainer? A personal revenge saga? Mayasabha desperately tries to be all of these at once and succeeds at absolutely none. The result is a film that looks serious on the surface but feels empty, amateurish, and directionless underneath.

This is not a slow burn. This is a slow, suffocating crawl.

Screenplay & Script Sense

The screenplay of Mayasabha is its biggest and most unforgivable crime.

The narrative is chaotic, incoherent, and structurally broken. Scenes appear randomly, characters enter and exit without logic, and important emotional moments are rushed while meaningless filler sequences drag endlessly. There is no organic build-up, no emotional rhythm, and no narrative clarity.

Dialogues are painfully artificial and overwritten. Every character speaks as if they are delivering political speeches rather than living real lives. Instead of letting situations convey emotion, the script relies on loud monologues and repetitive messaging that becomes exhausting within the first thirty minutes.

The script also lacks basic continuity. Motivations change suddenly. Conflicts appear without setup. Resolutions arrive without payoff. It feels less like a screenplay and more like a collection of half-baked scenes stitched together with forced background music and dramatic pauses.

Worst of all, the film underestimates its audience. It repeatedly explains what is already obvious, turning potentially sharp moments into embarrassingly spoon-fed sequences.

Direction

The direction in Mayasabha is shockingly immature for a film that wants to be taken seriously.

The director seems obsessed with visual “importance” rather than emotional truth. Slow-motion shots, exaggerated camera movements, and unnecessarily loud background scores are used to create a false sense of grandeur. Instead of building tension through storytelling, the film relies on technical gimmicks to compensate for weak content.

There is no control over pacing. Emotional scenes are cut short while political debates and filler conversations stretch far beyond their relevance. The tonal inconsistency is glaring; the film jumps from intense drama to forced humor to melodrama without any cinematic discipline.

A good director guides the audience through a story. Here, the audience is abandoned.

Acting

The performances in Mayasabha are uneven at best and painfully over-the-top at worst.

The lead actor struggles to carry the emotional weight of the film. Instead of internalized conflict, we get loud expressions, theatrical anger, and exaggerated reactions. Subtlety is completely missing. Important emotional beats are delivered with such artificial intensity that they lose credibility.

The lead performance feels more like a stage rehearsal than a cinematic portrayal. There is no emotional evolution, no psychological depth, and no visible transformation across the narrative.

Several scenes that were clearly designed to be powerful end up becoming unintentionally awkward because the actors are forced to perform poorly written and unnatural dialogues.

Supporting Cast

The supporting cast is unfortunately wasted.

A few actors show glimpses of sincerity, but they are trapped inside underdeveloped roles and shallow character arcs. Most characters exist only to push the plot forward or to glorify the protagonist. They have no independent identity, no meaningful subplots, and no emotional journey of their own.

Some talented performers are reduced to glorified background players, while others are asked to overact simply to match the exaggerated tone set by the direction.

Cinematography

Visually, Mayasabha tries hard to look cinematic, but effort alone does not translate into quality.

The frames are overly stylized and aggressively lit. Every scene looks polished, yet strangely lifeless. There is no visual storytelling. The camera moves constantly but never meaningfully. Instead of supporting the narrative, the cinematography distracts from it.

Political gatherings and public scenes feel staged rather than immersive. The film never captures the rawness, tension, or chaos that such settings demand.

Style dominates substance and suffers because of it.

Music & Background Score

The background score is relentlessly intrusive.

Rather than enhancing emotional beats, the music overwhelms them. Every conversation, every confrontation, and every dramatic pause is drowned under heavy, repetitive orchestration. Silence, which could have been a powerful tool, is completely ignored.

The songs are forgettable and awkwardly placed. They interrupt the narrative flow and add nothing to character development or storytelling. Instead of creating emotional resonance, the music becomes another source of fatigue.

By the second half, the background score becomes unbearable.

Editing

The editing of Mayasabha is a disaster.

The film feels unnecessarily long, bloated, and poorly trimmed. Scenes that should have been removed remain untouched, while potentially impactful moments are rushed. Transitions are abrupt, tonal shifts are jarring, and the rhythm of the narrative never stabilizes.

Several sequences feel incomplete, as if entire emotional bridges were removed during post-production. The second half, in particular, collapses into a repetitive loop of confrontations, speeches, and predictable dramatic beats.

A tighter edit could have salvaged some dignity. Sadly, that opportunity was completely missed.

Final Verdict

Mayasabha is an ambitious film with absolutely no narrative discipline to support its ambition.

It wants to be relevant, powerful, and politically significant but ends up being shallow, confused, and painfully loud. It mistakes noise for impact, scale for depth, and style for storytelling. The film neither entertains nor enlightens. Instead, it exhausts.

For a subject that deserves sensitivity, intelligence, and emotional responsibility, Mayasabha delivers superficial drama and forced messaging.

This is not a bold political cinema. This is an empty spectacle pretending to be important.

On the Plus Side

• A few sincere performances buried under weak writing

• High production values

• Occasional visually striking frames

On the Minus Side

• Extremely weak and incoherent screenplay

• Direction obsessed with style over substance

• Overacting and unnatural dialogues

• Irritating background score

• Poor editing and bloated runtime

• No emotional depth or narrative clarity

• Completely wasted supporting cast

Suyash Pachauri's Verdict One-Liner

“Mayasabha is not a political drama; it is a loud, hollow, and painfully confused film that mistakes noise for relevance and ambition for cinema.”