They say it is fruitless dwelling on the past, but a couple of days back on seeing Eklavya-the royal guard on DVD I was confronted with the thoughts of what reallly went wrong with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s most ambitious project till date.
An original story backed by splendid performances from a mammoth star cast, breath-taking cinematography, an apt background score, in depth attention to minor details and four to five hair raising scenes ought to really have set the box office on fire...but really the film even fails to make a headstrong impact on the viewer.
The film has a mesmerising opening few minutes and for the first half an hour you really encounter a cool cinematic experience..one of real quality.A film with 15 reels should at the very outset establish itself but sadly this one takes ten reels to just establlish its premise and that too not conivncingly enough.The unwrest within the kingdom is just not brought out well enough, neither are the characters so well fleshed out for the family drama to take you by storm.Instead the shots of the pigeons zooming in and out of the haveli, those shots of the moon and those shots of the fort from myriad angles take the focus away from the main story....to the extent that beyond a point you dont really care about what Eklavya keeps blabbering under his breath.Infact in his zeal to make the film visually appealing, the essence behind story-telling i.e. an issue to really hold the viewer is lost.
Also when Harshvardhan(saif ali khan) arrives you dont see any kind of remorse in his eyes or body language at first.Even when he recalls one instance from childhood the reaction is just not what it should have been...
The scene where the king is assasinated seems to go on forever and by the time the incidents happen you really have lost all interest.
And why does Vidya Balan whisper throughout the film?Also the sob she lets out when her father dies looks fake.
Also one does not understand the reason behind Eklavya burning the queens’ scarf.
Infact the middle portion of the film is very very average.
All this left aside there are certain scenes that leave you spell bound...
-Jimmy’s killing. Dark screen. Only dialogues... Awesome. Effect spine chilling
-Jackie being thrown at the speeding train
-Climax betwenn Saif and Ab where he asks Saif to say something when Saif has a gun at his head.. That was a very brilliant climax and I felt that the movie should have ended there with the knife thrown and the gunshot ringing in your ears!!
also,
Shots of moving dark clouds, full moon. telling you what to expect next..truly awesome
Amitabh Bachchan as Eklavya is subtle and right on the money
The eyes convey all the emotions here and this one certainly is one his truly remarkable performances
Saif ali Khan recovers from a gingerly start and takes over the show relinquishing a quite splendid performance proving once again why he is considered one of the best in the business now
Jimmy Shergill is quite brilliant in his part..this is truly one under-rated actor
Boman Irani tends to go over the top with his expressions
Raima Sen leaves a mark in an important role
Vidya Balan looks gorgeous and plays her part efficiently...infact I could not help drawing comparisons with another certain shy character i.e Amrita Rao in vivah...where the latters refusal to lift her eyelids and affected dialogue delivery got on your nerve, but Vidya walks the tightrope quite well..just the whispering tends to irritate a little
Sanjay Dutt’s character is one you take home with you, and provides some lighter moments in this intense drama
Jackie Shroff and Parikshit Sahni are efficient
A special mentioon for the cinematography by N.NatraJ Subramaniam..truly international standard
Ahem. Eklavya is India’s official entry to the Oscars and every one- Tom, Dick and Sajid, and not to forget Chintu, Mintu, Pintu and Farah has an opinion on it. Dharm director Bhavna Talwar has been screaming hoarse "CORRUPT JURY, CORRUPT JURY!" relentlessly out of our TV sets, while Vidhu Vinod Chopra calls her a crab- how sweet. Anupam Kher has an opinion even without having seen either film- so much like most of India’s people. With the kind of jury that we had to select the film, what do we actually expect. God knows what propelled Mr Sudhir Mishra to be part of this joke of a jury that includes respectable names that you have never heard of and will never hear of, I assure you, and then some people like ‘Apne’ Anil Sharma and Red Swastik director Vinod Pande- the honorable chairperson of the jury, whose films if sent to America, would make even the winners of the Razzies smirk (or maybe squirm).
As for me, I don’t really think Eklavya is such a bad choice when compared to the rest of the names being touted- that incredibly even included Chak De India. Would the current fuss hve been made had Eklavya been a hit? Then all and sundry would have quietly kept shut and kept their comments neatly tucked in their smart little bottoms.Personally I dont think there was any film that I know of really worth sending- and that has nothing to do with the quality of the films, but rather with the fact that I don’t think any of them could really be nominated or win an Oscar.
All I will say is that since the film has been singled out for praise by a lot of people in the West it looks an intelligent, thoughtful choice over Dharm.Sending Chak de India would have been a huge mistake, and since Black Friday was released worldwide in 2004 there was no question of sending it.