Satyagraha is a word inspired by Gandhi's movement of non-violence. As heavy
as the word may be, Gandhi easily demonstrated how effective a tool it can be.
When it comes to cinema, its truth is equally divided in to three parts -
story, acting and direction. What the movie lost out in story and direction, it
made up for with acting. The movie's saving grace was the
Bollywood Celebrities
Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai and somehow managing to secure the third spot on
this list, Ajay Devgn.
Despite most media reports of
satyagraha
movie review, 'Satyagraha' is not a follow-up to the Ranbir Kapoor,
Manoj Bajpai and Arjun Rampal starrer 'Rajneeti'.
The movie 'Satyagraha' covers hot-wire topics that have stirred the nation. It
is undeniably a culmination of Anna Hazare's movement, the Jan Lokpal bill,
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, engineer Satyendra Dubey's murder and
Gandhi's last days on earth. Barring this, most other things - melodrama, love,
item numbers and other 'thought-provoking' scenes according to Prakash Jha -
seemed forced.
These points strip the movie of any value, and leave it looking neither
realistic or entertaining.
What the viewer does manage to remember, though, is the fact that Prakash Jha
is the same director to gave us 'Gangajal' and 'Apaharan', movies that were
ripe with socio-political issues.
What the viewer is also left with, is episodes from a not-too-old past that
managed to move an entire nation, of which some, sadly, were replaced soon with
the worries of a daily routine.
Amitabh Bachchan plays the role of Dwarka Anand who blames the basic human flaw
- greed - for corruption. Jha makes a clean case of corruption with this
character. Dwarka Anand's son Nikhil Anand, after getting a degree, starts
working for a highway construction company with all the honesty of a simple hard
worker. On the other hand, his friend Manav Raghvendra (Ajay Devgn) is an owner
of a telecommunication company in Delhi whose sole aim in life is to make it
big. What happens with Nikhil is what happened in reality with engineer
Satyendra Dubey, when he stands in the way of corrupt authorities and insists
on building a secure highway.
Enter TV reporter Yashmeen Khan (Kareena) who's placed at this point in the
movie after she carries out a sting operation on a power broker.
After the murder of his friend, Manav reaches Ambikapur. There the situation is
ripe with need of a new people's leader and it so happens that Amitabh
Bachchan's character becomes the face of a new movement, by finding himself in
jail. What spurs the movement, is people's new found conviction to get him out
of prison, no matter what.
Arjun Rampal plays the youth leader in the movie, with the same first name.
Social media is also seen playing a role in the movie. In addition to Arjun's
support for the movement, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are
also used to spread the word of the movement. This episode continues well into
the interval.
Cut to later. The stage is set. The air is packed with drama.
Enter Manoj Bajpai who plays the role Balram Singh, a corrupt minister. Suffice
it to say, he falls into the role with great ease and manage to enthrall as
always.
Amitabh Bachchan and Manoj Bajpai deserve credit for their commendable
performance.
Amitabh gives new meaning to the words perseverance, courage and conviction,
while Manoj as always gets beneath the skin of the character with great ease.
Although Ajay Devgn's a great actor too, he failed to make an impression. And
after watching Arjun Rampal in Rajneeti, one could spot great potential in him.
It went to waste with his character in this movie.
Kareena Kapoor seemed to have been carried away by her role. She tolerated
and delivered news with all the seriousness of an entertainer (and not that of
a reporter). Amrita Rao's role isn't worth too much talk. As predicted, her
performance was ho-hum.
The element that eventually works to hold the many aspects of a movie together,
was missing. It was almost as if actor and screenwriter Anjum Rajabali was
dealing with a certain sense of urgency while working and decided to add as
much as possible in the 152 minutes that make up the film. This explains the
flat response the film has generated from the audience till now.
Not only that, the movie is replete with the old tried-and-tested formulae -
including item numbers - which also helps explains why the movie lost ground.
Whether the movie will survive the weekend audience, is only a matter of time.
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