We make mistakes, everyone of us. We face consequences as a result of it, everyone of us. But we don’t quite confess everything do we! Naah!
Life is a journey of ups and downs, winning and losing, falling and rising. Nothing is certain here except for our participation. Ultimately, it all pens out as has been planned by the creator.
There’s a trend of biopics in Bollywood these days. The ones on famous personalities mostly turn out to be hagiographies whereas the ones on the lesser known ones show their struggle. Biopics on someone’s life filled with controversies have a lot of story and plot in it that can be shown.
Biopics have always been judged for various reasons be it the feel of glorifying, changing the facts, not showing everything, taking cinematic liberties etc. But when someone like Rajkumar Hirani steps into this territory, one would naturally be inclined to see what does he have to offer.
Just like all his previous movies, Hirani and team have put in all the ingredients in this one as well. There are moments that will take your breath away, there are scenes where you’ll cry like anything, there are dialogues that will bring a smile on your face and there are happenings which will give you reality bites.
Sanjay Dutt has been through it all in his life and yet, he has survived. He is a survivor. The amount of incidents in his life can’t be shown in 160 minutes and thus, it was acceptable that the movie showed only the main and key incidents that had shaped the life of Dutt.
Drug issue, TADA issue, relationships, friendships, bonding with the family has all been shown in detail. How Sanjay found it tough to concentrate on acting and lip syncing has also been shown in the movie. I won’t go into detail of what all has been shown and what has been left out. I’ll just focus on how life goes about.
Sanju has shown that making mistakes isn’t uncommon, it only makes you human. Suffering for the mistakes is also a given. What is wrong is the permanent label that doesn’t go away even after the punishment term has ended. One needs people around who help you when down, who pull you up and who show you the right direction.
Direction and editing by Rajkumar Hirani is brilliant as always. He went out of his usual stuff this time, but easily came out triumphant again. He always knows how to involve the public throughout and provide them with everything. Bollywood needs filmmakers like him to give us quality content.
Dialogues are really good. They add immense value to the movie. The dialogue used in Sarbjit has been used again here:- Ye Lakeerein Bhi Badi Dheet Hai, Mutthi Mein To Bandh Ho Jaati Hai, Par Kabu Mein Nahi Aati. Cinematography is great and screenplay is outstanding. Story as mentioned earlier has so much in it that one is bound to be fully glued and involved in it throughout.
Music is Bollywood is dying slowly. Rarely do we find a full score by the same composer and even rarer are situational songs with meaningful https://lyrics. Music in Sanju is also very poor except for the song Kar Har Maidan Fateh which seems good compared to the exceptionally poor other ones.
Coming to the performances, Ranbir Kapoor has transformed well into the character. As far as acting goes, he was excellent in some parts, he was average in some parts and he seemed like mimicking in some parts to me. Vicky Kaushal was outstanding, this was his best performance till date for me. Dia Mirza was really good as expected and so was the ever charming Sonam Kapoor in a brief stint. Anushka Sharma was also good but I dont know what is with her hair styles in Hirani movies hehe! Jim Sarbh is such a natural actor, excellent he was(Watch out for his moves in Main Badhiya Tu Bhi Badhiya). Hirani Sir said they were considering Sanjay to play Sunil Dutt Saab’s role and after watching the movie, I would say that wouldn’t have been a bad idea after all. Paresh Rawal was decent as Dutt Saab. Manisha and Boman were good as well. I missed Parikshit Sahni in Sanju though.
All in all, Sanju has shown how one can take a biopic to another level. Every biopic of famous personalities takes cinematic liberties, this shows how it can be used in the best way. I would rate it 4.5/5.
Some thoughts and notes:-
I’ve seen people praising Ranbir a lot and rightly so. People even praised Sushant for his portrayal of MSD. This is where I feel sad for few deserving people. Hashmi also did brilliantly in Azhar but didn’t get due credit because in today’s times, MSD is bigger than Azhar. And what do I say about Hooda Saab in Sarbjit! I wish people would have praised him and given him awards for a performance of a lifetime. "He made us feel for someone we didn’t know."
The Legend of Amar Prem grows further. It started with Queen where the Pani Puri dipped in alcohol scene was shown. After that, Neerja had the evergreen dialogue of "Pushpa I Hate Tears". And now, in Sanju, we have the iconic "Kuch To Log Kahenge" and Bakshi Saab in focus.
The songwriters from the past have been mentioned and used to emphasise on how they used to write on life and for each situation. Sahir Ludhianvi Saab, Majrooh Sultanpuri Saab’s iconic Ruk Jaana Nahin from Imtihaan and Bakshi Saab’s Duniya Mein Rehna Hai To from Haathi Mere Saathi and the legendary Kuch To Log Kahenge from Amar Prem have all been mentioned.
People nowadays are so biased and selective that they criticize only if it is against their version or against someone they dislike. Otherwise, they accept whatever is given. Also, the way people try to force their opinion on others is sad.
It needs extreme amount of guts to reveal your mistakes in front of the world. Also, so many things cannot be said because of the kind of parties involved.(Even if one of us gets into something like this, we’ll also be forced to act in a certain way.)
The permanent stamp that people put on you for a failure or a negative incident is so uncalled for. They believe what they want to believe and then abuse and accuse like anything. Other achievements and triumphs are easily ignored here.
People fail to understand the difference between a few things and readily disagree to change their view.(It was rightly said in "A Wednesday" that "Wo Log Hum Jaise 200 Ko Maar De To Chalega Par Hum Agar Unke 4 Logon Ko Maare To Aapko Badi Taklif Hai". People here judge you for all the wrong reasons.)
It is very important to understand who is using you and who is genuine with you in life. Valuing your parents is important because some regrets last lifetime.
Quality of some of the movies is increasing in Bollywood but the quality of music is at its all time low and it hurts to see the lack of melody these days.
Religion based hatred is at its extreme peak. This hurts me the most as humanity doesn’t exist now. People insult you for being from a particular religion or for supporting a religion despite being from some other religion. This for me has killed the life out of human beings.
He went through drugs, underworld, suicide(almost) and yet, survived it all. He is a survivor. He fought to prove that he isn’t what he is wrongly termed as. He’ll have to one day explain to his children about his life. I am sure not many would have survived what all he went through.
Well, bad choices indeed makes great stories. In today’s world, valuing what you have is important. There’s too much bias all around. The selective criticism that has been doing the rounds isn’t helping anyone. Don’t force your opinion on others, try to think properly before forming judgements and never criticise someone to the extreme as no one in this world is a saint. We’ve all made mistakes and will continue to do so. In the end, all is well that ends well.
Ultimately, no one wants to be bad. Yes, they make mistakes or sometimes, they readily do wrong things. But it is all written and destined or else, it wouldn’t happen. There’s a bad for every good in this world and I don’t know why.
The team should have used a 4th ustaad(ustaadi) as well, a certain Dr. Prabha Thakur who wrote the brilliant Chalte Chalte In Rahon Par from Aatmaram which had the line:- "Kismat Mein Jo Likha Hai, Paaya Hai Zindagi Mein, Kyun Dhundhne Ko Jaaye Hum Dosh Aadmi Mein". This line should have been effective to describe media and the judgemental people who are in abundance out here. But the rarity of this gem led to it not being used.
PS:- How, When and Why did he got termed as Sanju Baba!