Mastram is slavaged by some fine performances though. That is a let down since in today's world a lot more is available much easily one doesn't really need to watch a film to get excited. Abrupt jumps in events in his lives result in only the sleaze (thankfully tasteful in keeping with Mastram the books) coming out prominently. Objectify women without actually fleshing out the inner functioning of Rajaram is what thefilm does best. What goes on in the mind of a porn writer, how does he view the world around him? None of these questions are explored beyond the superficial wistful look at teenage fantasies through mastrams stories. A man coming to terms with the fact that he writes stuff all read in their privacy but would look down upon when in public. A writer who has to resort to erotica and gets trapped in writing it never able to realise his dream of graduating to higher literature. Technically the story is a premise that, to use the films own metaphors, ripe with juices. Things go sour though when he looks too close for inspiration, his own wife and best friend precisely, and things unravel. It pays well, he is published and the public laps up every edition of his fantasies with titles like "kanti bhai ka lolypop". He finds to his surprise his skill at writing erotica getting him ahead as a writer though. in Hindi he is shattered when his "literary" attempts fail to garner a publisher.
Neither is this erotica, nor is it explicitly porn,and most importantly, it does lip service to the life and psyche of the man behind these stories. Sadly, the film on this delightful piece of nostalgia is underwhelming on many counts.
Walking along a thin line of erotica and downright porn, Mastram books were a guilty pleasure many enjoyed. The books which were popular much before I would have been interested in them, were gripping nonetheless when I actually read them years later. Review Mastram & earn 20 DM Points.* Review Submit The film is not that mast due to the underwhelming narrative but can be seen once for the inspired performances.” “Mastram is a fictional biography of a porn writer which doesn't explore its potential well. Rajaram would have to add some necessary sensational elements to his dull tale – some `masala’, as they refer to euphemistically. They agree to publish Rajaram’s story about the plight of a small town girl. They tell him he should stick to writing text book material, and give up fanciful ideas of writing a novel. Finally, Rajaram encounters a fledgling publisher duo – Purohit and his brother-in-law, Bharti. Rajaram becomes a butt of all jokes in the neighborhood.Turning a deaf ear to the all the snubs, Rajaram starts in earnest to show his work to several publishers. But, being a stay-at-home writer doesn’t go down too well with prying neighbors, who are quick to pass judgment on other peoples’ lives. Edged on by her encouragement, Rajaram starts stealing writing time from his humdrum work routine, and is eventually forced to leave his job, when his boss publicly humiliates him, and derides his fancy aspirations.To his utter surprise and delight, Renu unstintingly supports his decision, and starts doing odd jobs from home, while Rajaram begins to focus completely on his writing. Although a simpleton, Renu wholeheartedly supports her husband’s ambition. No one takes his litterateur aspirations seriously, least of all his uncle, who marries him off to the beautiful Renu. Rajaram, a bank clerk in a small town, dreams of traveling to Delhi and becoming a reputed writer.