Satyagraha movie review

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.