There are many good things about ‘Wazir’. First off, this is a film that’s backed by writing. Look, look, a plot. Hallelujah. Such a relief after so many plotless wonders masquerading as movies. Next, it brings back the actor in Amitabh Bachchan. And third, it respects our time, keeping things ticking at just over a neat 1.5 hours.
‘Wazir’ is about the coming together of two wounded men, very different in age and temperament, for a mutual purpose. Danish Ali(Farhan Akhtar) is recovering, with excruciating slowness, from a deeply personal tragedy; his wife Ruhana(Aditi Rao Hydari) is suffering too, in her own solitary corner. He meets up with the wheelchair-bound Pandit Omkarnath Dhar(Amitabh Bachchan), and gets sucked into the latter’s world, which is full of light and darkness, the contradictions arising from a painful past loss, and a present trying to come to terms with it. Also read: Five reasons why Wazir can be worth watching
No time is wasted in building up the swift-yet-tender romance between Danish and Ruhana: Farhan Akhar is excellent as the anti-terrorist officer who uses both brain and brawn to tackle the mystery which lurks at the heart of the film, and?grandmeister?Amitabh Bachchan shows us, in a couple of beautifully-realized scenes in which he dispenses all mannered flourish, the skill sets he still possesses. I sat through the gripping first half without moving a muscle, for fear of missing something.