Is an apt title, considering that it breaks almost all norms of the Hindi movie. Having already aroused my interest, I was in for a major surprise when I found that it ends at just about 100 minutes. That was enough for me to book my ticket and go to watch what in my mind should be a superlative experience, considering here was a horde of great actors all in unconventional roles. Were my expectations met? To see, lets get on to the review
Story:
An obsolete kingdom in the heart of Rajasthan, the rulers of which live in a time warp and still give themselves royal airs, irreverent of the now democratic state. Casteists, the King, Rana Jaywardhan(Boman Irani) heads this dynasty and has for a protector, Eklavya(Amitabh Bachchan) whose family has been protecting his for the past 9 generations, that is their Dharm. *The Queen, Rani Suhasinidevi(Sharmila Tagore) is on her deathbed, and is uttering Eklavya in her final breath, which upsets the King no end. In due course she dies, and her son Harshwardhan(Saif Ali Khan) who has left for London as he cannot stand the customs of his land, returns for her funeral. From here, the story takes a turn as a conspiracy unfolds, thanks to the Kings jealous brother Rana Jyotiwardhan(Jackie Shroff) and his son Udaywardan(Jimmy Shergill). What happens next and what roles do Nandini(Raima Sen) Harsh’s mentally challenged sister, Rajeshwari aka Rajjo(Vidya Balan) and DSP Pannalal Chohar(Sanjay Dutt) play towards the culmination is what the story is all about.
Pros:
The first reaction that I had upon leaving the movie was, that this is an offbeat art movie, made for the masses. A major experiment, it nonetheless tells the story it has to in the short time available which actually works to its advantage. For a movie with a dark subject matter as this, a lack of songs can only come handy & this is complemented by excellent direction and performances. The best part here is, it is a dark film and talks about religion, without going over the top or preachy, on the whole it strikes a great balance.
Cons:
Here, the pros in a way are the cons. The length, lack of songs, and slow pacing can work to its detriment for the traditional movie viewer. The movie takes time to build up and even then is quite slow throughout, and becomes a test of patience as the pace drops a bit in the second hour, only to pick up. Furthermore, in a star crazy nation, its quite odd to see a movie in which every character has barely 4-5 scenes, so this movie, is definitely a risk. This fear of lack of acceptance from the audience may have made the ending more mass friendly than the one it might’ve or rather should’ve been, had a totally avant garde attempt been taken. However its safe to say that then this movie might have found almost no box office reward. Its good to see that the ending wasn’t totally a main departure from the movie just to pander to commercial interests. Overall, these cons might test but don’t overtake the movie.
Direction:
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is one of the best and a movie directed by him at the very least will be qualitative. Here too he delivers a film which, though different, is a product of definite quality. He has captured his locations with utmost precision and the backdrop tells as much of a grim story. Moreover, under him, all the actors have done a great job, which is the mark of a good director.
Performances:
Though the movie in terms of direction location and story may be very good, it is the performances that elevate it, and most commendable is that the actors have just a few scenes to perform, yet they do it with aplomb. Without further ado,
Raima Sen: I haven’t seen much of her, but she seems an infinitely better actress than her(hotter) sister, and while here she is sidelined after a strong intro, she gives a good performance in a small but tough role.
Vidya Balan: Not much of a role, pretty standard actually, but still a great performance. Vidya Balan adds a certain grace to her performance which makes her a natural for roles which require grace and poise, as she showed earlier in Parineeta and Lage Raho… while her role could’ve been stronger, she does well, keeping her record of good performances intact.
Sharmila Tagore: A great actress who unfortunately doesn’t have much of a role here.
Boman Irani: At first I thought that he was quite loud and over the top, but as was brought to my attention, Kings were archaic and loud especially when it came to their ego, making his portrayal a convincing one. The best cinematic discovery of the past decade, this man can take any role and perform it to a standard seldom seen, and even here he brings out his weaknesses and dual mind beautifully, showing that he isn’t completely evil, but not strong enough to accept his shortcomings, leading to his ego and hurt pride taking over. A good performance yet again by this man.
Jimmy Shergill:** An underrated actor who has been supported by this banner, its good to see him getting work which shows his talent. While his role isn’t that long, he gives a good account of villainy and arrogance, although his role is one I wish was a bit longer as it gave a lot of scope to show his anger and bitterness. Hope to see him in better roles in quality movies.
Jackie Shroff: One of the best actors of his time, who has thrust mediocrity upon him, Jackie has performed after a long time. An excellent villain, his performance in the scene in front of the mirror is just amazing and shows that this man is brilliant if given a good role. I hope that now his projects and performances will be of this caliber to help him come back ala Govinda.
Sanjay Dutt: Ram Gopal Varma, this man shouldve been Gabbar in Sholay. With minimal makeup, only Dutt can be so menacing yet funny at the same time. His is the most mass appealing character and he does excellently, not just for comic relief but also showing the anger of the lower caste who were tortured for nothing by the monarchs. A great performance from him, and one can hope he maintains this level.
Saif Ali Khan: One of the most evolved actors today, Saif Ali Khan does a great job in performing his role, even though he doesn’t have much dialog. He uses his now much improved screen presence to good effect and it must help that he is royalty himself, as he shows the style very convincingly. He is the actor with maximum scenes with Amitabh and yet he gives a quality performance, more than holding his own.
(Problem in MS so have to continue in comments, read on)
