Mithya: Perplexed !!!

I spent this sunday watching Mr.Rajat Kapoor's latest flick 'Mithya'. I tried to watch it with an unbiased frame of mind, especially after gathering the opinions of people who had seen it. Tough task, indeed!
The plot opens on a very ordinary note, where in Ranvir Shourey plays a small-time actor in Bollywood (or Hindi film industry, as some would prefer to call it), who aims to make it big in the Sapnon ka Shehar a.k.a Mumbai. But what makes the start special is the unique sense of humor engraved in the scenes. Its an hybrid of dark and slapstick humor.
The first half deals with Ranvir's character trapped in a ploy laid out by a gang headed by Saurabh Shukla, to displace an underworld don. Just when you start guessing if the plot turns out to be a parody of Farhan Akhtar's Don, the director surprises you with a twist where Ranvir's character loses memory in an accident.
At interval, you are left wondering if the character has really lost memory or if it is another ploy; considering the fact that we have seen so many hindi movies where characters have faked amnesia. I believe this is the point where the narration goes weak.
The Director could have made this look more credible, atleast for people who have grown up watching hindi movies.
In the second half, the director completely loses his initial style of narration; by dealing with Ranvir's relationship with the Don's family (especially the wife) and his encounters with Saurabh Shukla's gang and prior-to-amnesia love interest Neha Dhupia.
The movie goes out of hand in the end, when the director deals with the Neha Dhupia's love for the Ranvir while he tries to find his identity. Amidst his crisis dealing with the underworld gangs and love for Don's family, the character loses the grip that was created in the first half.
The climax is a huge disappointment when Ranvir's character regains memory after being shot in the head and calls out Neha's name in a very filmi ishtyle.
The only thing that stands out in the movie is Ranvir's performance. His acting comes across as a revelation in an age where the masses have got overdoses of Khans' histrionics. We all knew that Ranvir was a splendid performer, but he surprises us by carrying the entire movie on his shoulders very responsibly. His performance is arguably one of the best we have seen on the big screen in the recent past. You would fail to accept that any other actor could have done justice to the character after watching some scenes, be it the one in which Ranvir accepts to play a part of the ploy or the one in which he struggles to answer the Don's wife.
Vinay Pathak's character could have been given more airtime in the second half, considering the pace it set for itself in the first half. Naseer's character fails to leave an impression, the genius cannot be blamed for this; the director should have made it more interesting like the one in Kaizaad Gustad's Bombay Boys. I wont waste your time by commenting on the other characters.
As a director, Rajat Kapoor is extremely promising; but he needs to concentrate on his narration. A director can make very limited assumptions about the viewer while telling a story.
Rajat gives you the impression of a director with honest intentions. But he needs to improve without losing his conviction.
Cinematography and editing are not path-breaking. So I need not comment on them too.
Its only because "Meri akal mere pichwaade mein nahi hai" that I am rating this movie as just above average.
Rating: **1/2
Cheers to cinema !