After reading rave reader reviews on rediff I watched the movie yesterday. I liked the movie but did not find it path breaking or entitled to such similar adjectives of superlative degree.
Talking about the movie, the DCH continuation part rocks, with the spontaneous chemistry among the gang. The gags, the repartees, their timing are all brilliant. The execution of past to present juxtaposition is great. Acting is superb. The music rocks(literally). The title song is beautifully picturised in a riot of colours, however the cinematography with slow shutter is something I can do on my consumer grade handycam. This feature has been used extensively, not that it doesn’t look good. Editing and style of narration is exemplary.
But the problem is that the plot is popcorn-ish. The screenplay could have been more mature with more teeth and legs. The clichés are too overboard like in the case of Atul Kulkarni and Kunal Kapoor Sub plot. Take the scene in which Kulkarni aplogises to the wounded Kunal Kapoor. I would have loved to have this scene bereft of any dialogues. This reminds you of Balaji Telesereials which are technically superb but lack the understatement needed in a class product. This is where when you realize that ultimately you are watching a Hindi movie the best of which fail to give the audience’s intelligence its due. When a product is targeted at a class (Multplex in this case), it should consistently be able to cater to their tastes.
All the ministers are portrayed in black, which leaves one with no hope, whereas the truth is far from it. India has a hope even without the youth taking to guns. The angst in Karan’s Character seems misplaced and unrealistic given his background. The return of angry young man? Though the actor has come up trumps.
This makes me to wonder whether the film could have passed the censor had the NDA been in power? As of now the film assumes an image of Congress inspired potshot at the previous NDA government, what with active protagonism by the Congress-ist NDTV.
Soemtimes the narration was in male voice and then suddenly switched to female. Was it a case of nested loops?
Although, with the kind of parallel narration, the end could not be different. It was a compulsion on the story to end that way.
One of the most prominent loose end in the story is the characterization of Bhagat singh vis a vis whether he took to the gun perforce or he was a militant minded revolutionary right from the childhood. In the beginning General writes that the Kakori Kand was a result of the Jaliyanwala Bag kand which compelled Bhagat Singh to abandon the Pen for the Gun. But in the end, Metaphor Bhagat asks his father what he was planting, in line with the legend of Bhagat sowing ‘seeds of Guns’ in his childhood.
There are many good thing about the movie. Like these gems which one just cannot miss:
The use of immortal ‘Nautanki Sala’ from the Legendary Sholay.
The aamir khan dialogue on past future and present.
The Madhavan dialogue which is echoed by Karan at the end ‘No country is perfect, it is the people who make it perfect’. Though I wish the movie could have tried to give a direction to that end.
All the scenes involving the british actress.
The last scene of Kunal and Amir at Radio station
At the end all I would say a good movie which could have been Great.