The movie is about the politics and corruption creative havoc in the holy city of Banaras in Uttar Pradesh. Shravan (Abhishek Anand) is a simple and righteous man who revolts against all the corrupt practices going on in Banaras University, where he is pursuing post-graduation. He is also head over heels in love with Principal Shrivastav’s (Darshan Jariwala) daughter Mandira (Urvashi Sharma). His agitation against the miscreants in the college leads to an altercation with the local MLA Dharmraj Chaudhary’s (Akhilendra Mishra) son Devraj Chaudhary (Rajesh Shringarpure) and hence, Shravan gets embroiled into the murky world of hate and violence. The Chaudhary brothers destroy Shravan’s life which transforms him into Pandit, a goon who wages a war against Chaudhary and his brothers Yograj (Yashpal Sharma) and Balraj (Ganesh Yadav) to take revenge. The crux of the film is about how Pandit takes to guns and knives to beat the villains to pulp. The crux of the story surrounds an innocent student getting pushed into violence in his fight against the system.
Abhishek Anand, who makes his debut in this film does well in the action scenes, although falters in the romantic sequences. He has got some really good dialogues in the film, which he delivers well. However, his overall performance was far from convincing. The leading lady Urvashi Sharma doesn’t have much to do in this film. She features only in a handful number of scenes, some dramatic, a few emotional and a couple of romantic ones. Although, she was below-par, wouldn’t call her performance awful as such.
The supporting cast comprises a stellar group of actors such as Darshan Jariwala, Govind Namdev (as the righteous Professor Ahuja), Akhilendra Mishra, Yashpal Sharma, Ganesh Yadav, Zakir Hussain (as Sikandar Hyatt) and Vidya Malvade playing the role of a journalist. Although the script falters, these actors shine in their performances lifting the overall film a trifle. Overall, although the plot was overtly predictable, the actors did put up a decent show.
As far as the cinematography is concerned, some of the stunts look brilliant on the big screen, almost comparable to big-ticket films like ‘Dabangg’ and ‘Wanted’. The veteran action director Abbas Ali Moghul has given the lead actor the best of sequences, shot brilliantly by Shakeel A Khan. However, the weak point of the film lies with the script (written by Arsh), which is very predictable and bland. The editing is crisp, and holds the film well in the first half. However, towards the end, the film does drag a bit.
The direction by Shakur sir and Dharamprakash (D.P.) goes on to show why the film wavers in two different directions. The first half of the film is gripping and manages to hold your attention, but after the interval, the story falters and how. The makers have managed to eke out decent performances from the cast but the overall package is not enticing enough.
The music of the film is average. Although, it has been composed by stalwarts such as Anand Raj Anand and Jatin Pandit, it fails to strike the right chord. All the songs are just about passable with ordinary lyrics (Sameer) and half-decent choreography (Saroj Khan, Jeet Singh). There is the customary item song (a routine in most films these days) by Mariam Zakaria. However, nothing is impressive enough to be etched in the viewers’ memory.
Although the film is tolerable, don’t think it merits the price of a movie ticket. You may give this one a miss.
Despite decent performances and excellent action sequences, this film is not worth your time and money.
Shivom Oza
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