To give due where deserved, Mithya does stand out from other contemporary films with its lack of standardized formula. Despite its flaws and soporific tone, it attempts to, and probably does, make way for such experimental dramas. The character of VK after his amnesia has a larger scope for acting and almost gets it right. However, it falls miles short of being path-breaking cinema. The one stand-out redeeming factor in the otherwise tepid two hours odd of the film is its ending, which is fitting, albeit a little too dramatic.

My greatest lament after watching this film is the tremendous waste of a talent like Naseeruddin Shah. That Vinay Pathak agreed to do an equally insignificant cameo is understandable given the debt of gratitude he probably owes the filmmaker for Bheja Fry, but Naseeruddin Shah makes a bigger mess in this film than he did with the directorial debut. Arindam Chaudhary seems to have made a camp of his own of some very talented unconventional actors. I'm a little surprised none of them commented on the fact that the second half of this film goes nowhere. In fact, even though I'm against remakes as an idea, perhaps Shukla and Kapoor can someday re-write this script, halfway into the film, and think out the plot and pace a lot better.

'Nuff said, then. To sum it up, I'd give Mithya, on a scale of 1 to 10, a more-than-modest 7, most of it for a few scenes, and to applaud the effort to make unconventional cinema. Hopefully, Rajat Kapoor will get it right next time. For now however, Mithya is just that, an illusion.