This virus strikes in part

Mickey Virus
Hindi (U/A) ¬¬
Cast: Manish Paul, Varun Badola, Manish Choudhary, Elli Avram, Nitesh Pandey,
Director: Saurabh Varma

It’s raining debutant directors, and as often happens with raindrops, newcomers too can fast become unrecognisable in a large pool of talent. Fortunately, Mickey Virus’ maker Saurabh Varma has shown in his maiden venture that he has what it takes to stand apart. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough of it to make the film stand out!

Mickey Virus was long overdue from the industry. After all, India is one of the frontrunners in the global computer market, whose elements have enough potential to fill not one but several full-length films. Varma chooses hacking, a hotly debated and much-maligned topic associated with computers, and delivers a film that is high on the comedy and thrills that the tagline suggests, but pretty low otherwise.

When two foreign hackers are found murdered in Delhi, an Additional Commissioner of Police (Manish Choudhary) and his accompanying inspector (Varun Badola) enlist the help of “computer wiz” Mickey Arora to find out what’s happening. Moving at a good pace most of the time, we follow Mickey as he unravels the plot he has been sucked into, thanks to his love interest (Elli Avram). He enlists the help of his friends and “teacher” (Nitesh Pandey), but no one is who he seems.

If the first half of the film shows sparks of great comic sense, the second half, building on what was depicted before, showcases Varma’s talent in building up a thrilling climax. But never are we entirely invested in Mickey’s fate, thanks to lunar-crater-sized plot holes and the director’s assumption that anything can happen with technology!

Why else does a super-secretive hacker group have a full website that, when cracked, helpfully reveals the identities its creators? Why does a hacker have to follow the trial-and-error to gain access to a USB stick, when he can generate passcodes of bank firewalls? And (spoiler alert) why, when recording the antagonists’ confessions, does his tablet PC helpfully — for the bad guys, that is — display the word “Recording”?

But, Varma has the spark. Stay till the end credits if you don’t believe us. Just don’t have your hopes too high, and that’s the verdict for the film too!