Mr Kamal Hassan , I am a great admirer of your acting skills, dancing skills , to some extent singing skills, but direction skills ? hmm that leaves a lot to be desired. Hey Ram is a great concept but not been etched on screen in a proper manner. This movie directed by Kamal has himself, Shah Rukh , Rani Mukherjee, Vasundara Das , music scored by the maestro Illayaraja.
The plot revolves around an archeologist Kamal with his muslim friend Shah Rukh , when he goes to meet in Calcutta to meet his lover Rani , she gets raped and killed in the partition riots and this leaves Kamal angry fuming & leaves him on a killing spree. How he encounters an anti Gandhian Brahmin cult and decided to assassinate Gandhiji , how he dosent is the story.
The narrative is unevenly paced. The sets are good, camerawork is good, Acting is great , but it fails to evoke any emotion. There has been use of unnecessary special effects , which are of no relevance to the movie. Some scenes are good , the one especially which holds my mind is when Kamal , on the killing spree turns into an alley to bump into Atul Kulkarni who notices Kamal’s Sacred thread denoting that he is a Brahmin and goes about introducing himself in a vedic manner. Another one is the scene at chandni chowk when Kamal meets Shah Rukh. The problem in the movie is that it shows too much of kamal , u would have to blink to miss him in any scene !!!
Atul Kulkarni is first rate and no doubt he got the National award for the best supporting actor. Kamal is good. Rani has done a good job though the expose part is a little too much. Vasundara looks fresh and is ok. Shah Rukh is great , first time I liked him in any role. There are so many other great and distinguished actors but I cant mention all.
The problem is you go into the cinema hall expecting a great movie but you are flabbergasted, makes you think , whats this yaar ? what hit me ? The soul into the movie seems to be missing. Idealy the rape scene of Rani and her murder subsequently should make you cry but it does nothing. Illayaraja does a good job with some pleasing numbers.
Art direction is great giving you that old time look .
Hmm would watch it on TV , but cannot sit through it.