’Halla Bol’ is a stamped’Raj Kumar Santoshi’ product which once again lifts up some social issues with ’Style~’. Halla Bol is the only movie this january, which has a good director, and a good starcast too, After Halla Bol, The movies which are expected to compete are’Sunday and Jodha Akbar’ which will release in early february. So this movie has an open chance to become successful till january end. Therefore this movie is definitely bound to work under any circumstances, doesn’t matter if its good or bad. And fortunately this has turned out to be good, And is finally a good start for 2008.
*Story:
Ashfaque [Ajay Devgan] **is an aspiring actor living is a small city. He has a dream of acting in’Hindi Films’. For this he joins a small street theatre group run by Sidhu [Pankaj Kapoor] who was formerly a dacoit, and has reformed to help such people and bring some awakening in the society.
Ashfaque’s long acting schedules, struggle, determination finally gets recognised and he gets a chance to act. He is bound to change his name in order to act, Which is later turned to ’Sameer Khan’. Soon, Ashfaque starts doing various different and better roles everytime, in a very short span of time he gains too much of everything success, money and fame.
Slowly and gradually this fame and money starts getting on the mindset of Ashfaque, which results in a blackening of relationships between him, Sidhu, his wife Sneha [Vidya Balan] and all his loved ones. After series of such events, Ashfaque gets invloved in some seeds of corruption and fame with an incident which turns his life upside down. The result is the losing of his own identity, and to gain it again, he has to fight.
*Direction:
Raj Kumar Santoshi is back! He proves his metal again. The movie has a rare finesse which keeps on asking your conscience and makes you feel guilty on what you could’ve done. The message has been delivered excellently. The storytelling is nicely done, and it is highly believable that a small town man can easiely startled and get carried away by money. Technically, the movie has plain cinemetography and ofcourse there was not much scope for stylish angles and fancy lighting.
*Performances:
Ajay Devgan once again gives a superb performance. His acting skills really seem to improve every time he acts in such movies. Pankaj Kapoor is excellent, His conversations with Ajay before and after transformation and electric. As this one’s a male dominated movie, Vidya Balan does not have much to do, still she enacts her small part well, watch out for her in pre and post interval portions. Darshan Jariwala is first rate, really brings some good words in ones mouth with his killing expressions. Anjan Shrivastav is good. Now for some surprises. There are a number of good guest appearances in the movie. Tushar Kapoor is good, Jackie Shroff is useless. Kareena has absolutely nothing to do. Sridevi and Boney Kapoor are just about fine.
*Positives:
*The movie has excellent performances and brilliant direction. Screenplay is good. Dialouges are hard hitting and noteworthy. The movie is small and does not drag much, though the second hour was a little legnthy.
*Negatives:
Music is average. Except for the title and Haji Ali, None of the song manages to create an impact. The group fight sequence is quite overdone. Item songs dilute the feel of the movie. The climax is good but could have been far better. While leaving the theatre you really think an opposite ending.
*Scenes to watchout for:
# Ajay’s first theatre sequence.
#Conversation at the ministers place.
#Drama between media and Ajay’s family.
Overall^. Halla Bol is a pretty decent watch this january. If you are looking forward to a movie which will absolutely give you value for money, this ones for you. In a word **’VERY GOOD’.
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