Mirza: Part 1 - Joker

Mirza: Part 1 – Joker
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Sumeet Goradia Saahil Goradia
Written by	Sumeet - Saahil
Screenplay by	Arnab Bhaumik
Story by	Arnab Bhaumik Sumeet - Saahil
Produced by	Ankush Hazra Abir Gupta Arkadeb Ukil
Starring	Ankush Hazra Oindrila Sen Kaushik Ganguly Rishi Kaushik Priya Mondal Shoaib Kabeer
Cinematography	Animesh Ghorui
Edited by	Sanglap Bhaumik
Music by	Ishan Mitra Aneek Dhar
Production company	Ankush Hazra Motion Pictures
Distributed by	PVR Inox Pictures
Release date	11 April 2024 (2024-04-11)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Budget	₹4.5 crore [1]

Mirza: Part 1 – Joker^[2][3] or simply Mirza is a 2024 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Sumeet-Saahil, making their directorial debut. Produced by Ankush Hazra, Abir Mitra and Arkadeb Ukil under the banner of Ankush Hazra Motion Pictures, the film marked Ankush's first venture as a producer.^[4] It stars Ankush in the titular role, alongside an ensemble cast of Kaushik Ganguly, Oindrila Sen, Rishi Kaushik and Shoaib Kabeer in the lead roles, with Jisshu Sengupta in a special appearance.^[5][6][7] It revolves around Mirza, who raises his voice against the involvement of children in drugs smuggling, after one of his child companions, gets mistakenly killed by the drug lords.

Production difficulties, ranging from script disagreements and reshoots with Nexgen Ventures, postponed Mirza's release several times.^[8][9] Finally, Ankush decided to produce the film under the banner of his own production house.^[10] The first installment of a two-part film, it was released in the theatres on 11 April 2024, on the event of Eid.^[11][12] The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film was a hit at the box office. A sequel titled Mirza: Part 2 - Tiger was announced at the post credit scene.

The plot revolves around a child named Mirza. He joins the underworld of crime to take revenge on his foster father Murshid Sheikh's death and gradually rises to the pinnacle of power. Already there is a king, Sultan, who controls the whole drug mafia syndicate with his son Azhar. At first Mirza misguided them to join hands with them. Brutal violence and vengeful fights erupt as Mirza clashes with Sultan & other gang lords who try to bring him down. A police officer, Kaustav, has begun his mission to make a drug free society. He faced Sultan, Azhar as well as Mirza. On the other side, Mirza falls in love with Muskan, (A fisher). Finally Mirza was able to bluff everyone & flee from the battle. At last there is a cameo of Tiger.^[13]

In 2022, Ankush announced the title of the film and the director. On 8 September 2022, the announcement teaser of the film was released, revealing his first look.^[17] On the event of Mahalaya 2023, the teaser of the film was released.^[18][19] Later, due to some difference and disagreement, Ankush decided to produce the film completely under his production house. He accused Raktim Chatterjee, the owner of Nexgen Ventures, for his mentality and background.^[20][21]

On 9 December 2023, he released a new announcement teaser under the banner of his own production house's YouTube channel. On 13 February 2024, he released the teaser of the film.^[22][23]

After detaching with Nexgen Ventures, the filming started on 13 December 2023.^[24] Most of the filming was done in Kolkata, Kumortuli and Odisha.^[25][26]

On 31 December 2023, Ankush succumbed to an injury in the patella of his knee bone. He had to take bed rest and started shooting for the action sequences almost one and a half months later. He shot for the other scenes in that time.^[27][28] On social media, he mentioned that while shooting for an action film after almost six years, he realised why commercial action films are rarely made in Tollywood.^[29] Later, Hazra said that he is using a body double for shooting a huge part of the action scenes. He also went under a surgery of his patella, after the release of the teaser.^[30][31]

On 13 February 2024, the teaser of the film was released on Ankush Hazra Motion Pictures Youtube channel, which gathered appreciation from the critics as well as the audience.^[32] For marketing, ground level promotional events have been conducted in Medinipur, Berachampa, Barasat, Madhyamgram, Bardhaman, South Kolkata and Berhampore.^[33] He has also given interviews with Oindrilla Sen to all the major Bengali film critics, youtubers and Bengali media including ABP Ananda and Sangbad Pratidin.^[34][35][36] The music of the film was launched at an event at New Town, Kolkata.^[37]

The trailer of the film was released on 31 March 2024 on Ankush Hazra Motion Pictures Youtube channel.^[38] In total, the trailer has been released on the Youtube channels of 6 other large production houses of West Bengal, which is the largest ever trailer release for any Bengali film.^[39]

The music of the film is composed by Ishan Mitra and Aneek Dhar. The lyrics are written by Barish and Pranjal Das.

The first single "Ghalib" was released on 15 March 2024.^[40][41] The second single "Elo Mirza" was released on 24 March 2024.

The film was initially scheduled to release on 10 April 2024, on the occasion of Eid.^[42] Three days prior to release the film was postponed and released on 11 April 2024.^[43][44]

The producer informed that they have already recovered 60% of costs from digital and satellite rights after its 1-week run. As per the producer, the film earned 1.63 lakhs on the opening day and around 8 lakhs in the 1st week from the national multiplex chains only.^[45]

The film received negative reviews from critics. Poorna Banerjee of the Times of India rated the film 1 out of 5 stars. Reviewing the film on a mixed note, she wrote that the film is an action-packed commercial entertainer with good performances and possibility of a sequel. Although she criticised certain loose connections in the plot, she praised the acting of the whole cast, the fast-paced screenplay, the songs, well shot action sequences and witty dialogues.^[46]

Shamayitaa Chakrabborty of OTTplay rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Despite being imperfect, Mirza is a valiant effort to bring commercial Bengali films back into business. She criticised the weak writing, loud BGM, songs and the stretched ending. But also praised the comic punchlines, fight sequences, acting of the whole cast and cinematography.^[47]

Agnivo Niyogi of The Telegraph rated the film on a mixed note. He praised the director duo, the acting of Ankush and Oindrila but also criticised the length and weak writing. He wrote "It has the feel of 90's action dramas where the protagonist is smart and unbeatable but is still not unnecessarily larger-than-life. But the film tends to lose its grip in the second half due to lack of logical consistency certain times."^[48]

Suparna Majumder of Sangbad Pratidin wrote "The music is good but not up to the mark. The movie lacks logic at certain parts. Neither the action nor witty dialogues are the USP of this film. It is the storyline along with the performance of Ankush and Oindrila." Overall, she praised such an attempt of commercial potboiler in Bengali cinema.^[49]

• Mirza: Part 1 - Joker at IMDb