The verdict is out. Eklavya - The Royal Guard is a flop. Much hype was created before the release of this movie. I, being a fan of Saif’s, went for this one, which turned out to be below my expectations. The main problem with it was that it was very slow-paced. You won’t believe it! The duration of the movie is of less than two hours but it seemed to be a three to three and a half hours long movie. Such was the pacing of this well-directed but boring movie. The plot of the movie does remind one of Shakespeares’ play, Hamlet but its definitely not inspired by it. But yes...Eklavya is a lot like a Shakespearean tragedy.
Performance-wise, the movie belongs to the Big B because he is Eklavya - the royal (read loyal) guard. However, all the other actors perform equally well. Saif has matured a lot as an actor. If you liked him in Parineeta, you will like him here too. But his performance here can’t be compared with the ones he enacted in Omkara, Being Cyrus or even Ek hasina thi. We, as audience miss his comic timing when he does a serious role. He’s definitely better in movies like Salaam namaste, hum tum and kal ho naa ho. Sanjay Dutt does a "thanedaar"-act and excels. Jackie Shroff does a superb job. So does Jimmy Shergill and Boman Irani.
Raima Sen is strictly okay as the mentally disbalanced princess. Vidya Balan, Sharmila Tagore and Parikshit Sahni are wasted. As far as the music is concerned, there is only one song in the movie and it is okay. The direction by Vidhu Vinod Chopra is good. He made a comeback as a director after a long hiatus. However, he should stick to producing movies because all his directorial ventures haven’t done too well commercially. If you want to watch good performances, Eklavya is definitely for you. Or else, you may well watch it on tv.