Body of a Machine - Heart of a Man

Machine Man is one of those films that completely changed my perception of technology, culture, and love. It achieved something most films can't – it makes you think, it makes you ponder the many issues we have in this country, it portrays the dilemmas that come up when science goes too far. If you haven't watched Machine Man yet, you have failed this nation, and bad news, this review will contain spoilers because you deserve it.

Our beloved Manna bhai (RIP) had been on top of Dhallywood for decades, and deservedly so. I previously thought that it would be impossible to top his performance in UltaPalta 69, but as always, he had proved me wrong once again. The raw emotions Manna Sir produced in this film will tear your heart apart. The accurate robotic motions he did would even trump real automated machines. I love you, Machine Manna.

The theme song for this film truly encapsulates everything it's about. Whenever I hear it, it reminds me of all the anger and frustration of the protagonist and the suffering Machine Man had to face, it also informs the viewer how technologically advanced the film is. It's a phenomenal techno beat even Daft Punk can't produce, and the lyrics are: “MACHINE MAN, MACHINE MAN, MACHINE MAN…” Simple but ingenious.

The story starts with the Einstein of this generation, Dr Ronit, who has made the first prototype of Machine Man. His name has “Dr” as a prefix, so he must either be a medical doctor or he did his PhD in engineering, but I think he did both since his profession calls for it. But where did he get the money to build Machine Man? The criminal mastermind, Danny, funded this project. Unfortunately, while demonstrating his prototype, it malfunctioned and had to be destroyed. After that, Danny mocked Dr Ronit for ruining his 250 million Taka. Dr Ronit then makes a comeback with proverbs and idioms like, “Failure is the pillar of success, Rome was not built in a day!” Truly breath-taking.

Our protagonist, Inspector Pavel (Manna), is the smartest and handsomest police officer to ever face crime. The whole country knows him. Pavel executes a secret mission in disguise; he's targeting an arms dealer. The mission is successful and the criminal dies but the most twisted of twists gets revealed, the criminal was a member of Danny's gang.

Meanwhile, Pavel is being tossed around in the family like a piece of chicken, where everyone is stating how they are related to him just because his mission was successful. This points out the crystal clear flaws of our society, the objectification of an individual and the selfishness of our people. His closest family were spouting vile statements like, “O amar bhai. O amar chhele. O amar jamai.” Absolutely abhorring.

Then Danny kills Pavel's family in Cox's Bazar, and they deserved it. This scene shows its viewers that justice works in weird ways and it's not always black and white but shades of grey. But since it's Pavel's family, his mind is shrouded by familial bonds, so he couldn't fathom that everything happened for the good. Finally, Danny kills Pavel. But did he die?

No, he didn't. Dr Ronit's daughter, Labonno, was dancing around in different parts of Cox's Bazar and her dancing led her to the area where Pavel's body was. This educates us about the freedom for women to do whatever they want, even dancing alone in Cox's Bazar for no reason.

Labonno brings Pavel to her dad and he starts making Pavel the improved Machine Man. During the procedure, he spurts out revelations about the human body, like the human body works on 126 megabytes of energy, and he'll be able to improve Pavel by 10 times in every aspect, he'll increase Pavel's normal powers to GIGAPOWER. He's so skilled that he doesn't even wear gloves or masks during the operation. Pathogens are no match for Dr Ronit.

Unfortunately, Pavel lost his human self in the process. Labonno suggests that she'll bring him back through “affection”. Why is Labonno helping a stranger? So that her father can be successful, nothing else, definitely not love. The film demonstrates the wretchedness of humans once again.

The film also instils gender roles in a scene, which are an integral part of our culture, with amazing dialogues like, “Ranna-banna, thala-bashon dhowa to meyeder kaaj. Tumi to chhele, tumi meyeder kaaj korbe keno?” Powerful stuff.

I'm absolutely certain that this in-depth review has convinced you to watch one of the finest films this country has ever produced, so I'll spare you the more details. Just watch out for the evil mastermind – Bionic Man.

Shoaib Ahmed Sayam doesn't need coffee because he stays up all night anyway, doing the things he should be doing during the day. Send him John Cena memes at facebook.com/ooribabamama