Making films on political/social injustice - themes that makes for hard-hitting/no-nonsense cinema, is what Rajkumar Santoshi is most famous for.
Halla Bol too has all the trappings of a quintessential Santoshi product.
The film’s plot itself isn’t novel or path-breaking, in fact, we have seen this kind of stories told before many times in different films.
Yet, Halla Bol’s strength lies in the straight-forward execution of a cliched storyline, accompanied with some powerful performances.
The film doesn’t go over-the-top, and neither does exaggerate the points about corrupt politicians, social injustice and the public apathy towards social injustice. Cause these issues occur in modern day India, and are not derived from the filmmakers imagination.
Ashfaqe-ullah(Ajay) is a small town theatre activist, who aspires to make it big in the world of Bollywood. Once he succeeds in the film industry, he sheds his middle-class miens. His attitude starts changing, along with his values, ethics and name - Sameer Khan. His family and girlfriend refuse to accept his spoiled superstar personality and his relationship with them turns sour.
Sameer’s life takes an unexpected turn when he witnesses the murder of a young girl at a party. The event provokes his conscience and he decides to take action against the killers of the girl. But the road to justice isn’t devoid of obstacles, as he and his family face harassment from corrupt politicians, businessmen and cops, who are resolute to cover up the murder. And his only pillar of strength in this trying times is his Guru, a former dacoit-turned-theatre activist - Sidhu(Pankaj).
Rajkumar Santoshi showcases a lot of important issues in this 2+ hours cinematic experience.
What starts off as story about a spoiled star’s antics, quickly changes into a tale of personal redemption, and the fight against injustice and the county’s corrupt political system.
The movie is well paced, and never does get boring, even during the flashback sequences. Only the climax could have been more powerful, but the one we had was pretty good too.
Apart from being a hard-hitting drama, the film manages to make you chuckle many times. There are a lot of humorous sequences throughput the film.
Dialogues sound cliched at times, but pack a punch nonetheless.
Music is bad. For the exception of the’Jab tak hai dum’, none of the songs are pleasant to hear and were not needed.
Performances are strong:
After two debacles, Ajay Devgan goes back to do what he does best - act. He enacts the role of Sameer with extreme conviction. The films rests mainly on his shoulders, and he doesn’t disappoint this time.
Vidya Balan doesn’t have a meaty role, but still gives a very good performance.
Pankaj Kapoor is absolutely brilliant. He even has more on screen presence than Ajay, and puts in a stellar performance.
Darshan Jariwala was also good as the evil politician.
Rest of the cast is also competent, specially the actors who play Ajay’s parents.
Rajkumar Santoshi is is full form this time. Halla Bol is sincere movie on a topical theme. Overall, the film manages to convey the message it set out too. in powerful manner.
Rating: 4/5