What could have become a nice conspiracy movie, shoddily hiding a propaganda piece instead became a shoddy propaganda piece hiding behind a badly written, rant-ridden, shoutfest of Arnabian proportions.
The protagonist is the torch-bearer of the youth of the country, but you could not come up with a more unidimensional character. Whatever little of her failed relationship was shown fails to affect her character in anyway. I really hope Shweta Basu Prasad (of Makdee fame) is offered more roles after this one.
This is probably Mandira Bedi's last role. Manidra ab kahin nahin banayenge.
Why did Naseeruddin Shah even accept such a movie? I have no doubt he was
chosen only to increase the 'secular' quotient, that this is not a 'pro-BJP
(because if it was, why would we have Mr. Shah in it)' credentials. This is
despite a Hindu right-wing character created for the sole purpose of bashing
his anti-Muslim stance. What is genius is that that character is so hollow that
one immediately understands he was created for that purpose only, thus actually
playing into the anti-Muslim sentiment. Or perhaps I am giving too much credit
to the movie-makers. Anyway, Shah's role and arc was one I really wished was
completed and explored more. After all he was the K. Kamraj equivalent. And his
wife, was literally a trophy. Just standing/sitting/being there where the scene
was shot.
And that is where the film fell short. The politics of it, the entire Indira
Gandhi cabal, Kamraj playing king-maker, the split in the Congress,
factionalism, Desai-Shastri and puppeteering and the modern equivalent, that is
where the meat is and the knife to slice it open is the LBS murder mystery.
Unfortunately, the writers inverted that. The last minute Mithun twist falls
short.
The levelling up, and his "Main Samay Hoon" drones as "the
source" are exhausting.
Some crumb points for the character who constantly said "Stop looking at
me whenever you are raising doubts" to another character.
The Aditya Thackeray look alike who is actually a stand in for Rahul Gandhi was
just too much of a headache. Both as character and actor.
Nobody is denying the fact all history taught is not tainted from agenda or
ideology, nor that the educational thought stranglehold has been centre-left
dominated for long. Nobody is denying that Shastriji has been sidelined through
history. But while raining questions, the movie does not give a satisfying
umbrella of answers. What they need to see is Discovery and History channels.
Speaking of umbrellas, the rain of tears was also incessant I believe this
parliamentary committee must have held the record for most tears shed. Arre,
kitna royenge yaar? No wonder everyone was so salty.
And the monologues. God. Long and winding.
What is worse is most of their are just strings of nouns. Pick up a thesaurus,
choose a word, say all the synonyms in a loud or dramatic fashion.
Congratulations! You have written a Tashkent Flies speech, monologue,
soliloquy, address, lecture, sermon and oration.
Some interesting points about dominant narratives, counter-narratives, fake
news (that ad nauseam though), floating so many theories so that everything is
murky, are brought forth by Pallavi Joshi's character. Unfortunately they get
drowned down, in utter bs. Just like any meaningful debate.
Judicial Terrorism, Social Terrorism, Intellectual Terrorism. LIke Urban
Naxalism, the movie tried to coin a few more terms. I hope they don't pick up.
(remember “Unorganized Labour" from House of Cards?). Not to mention
random shoehorning of words like "Prima facie",
"Anti-National", "Lutyens Delhi", "White-paper".
Bose to Bhabha to Bapu to Gumnami Baba all play a cameo.
And then the identity crisis resurfaces. There is a rant against capitalism,
and then against socialism. Arre kehena kya chahte ho?
Crumbs of brownie points for the transition from "Sab chalta hai"
to "Sach chalta hai", but whoever tried to be the Zimmerman clearly
turned into a heavily discounted version of it. Even the bhongas of Inception
and bassoons of Interstellar were softer.
The editor may have tried some artistic rendition of cut-sceneing a flash back.
But it was too abrupt. And the general editing was jarring.
My first review was Mastizaade. My description of it was something which only Marathi has a word: 'किळसवणा'. I would rather watch that movie again than this. Because you don't have to use your brain there. Here, if you try to use your brain, it shatters.
I will not talk about the various facts, fiction, factoids, and their veracity because there are several videos, analyses and armies ready to bunk, debunk, rebunk, redebunk everything. Cherry picking of facts was evident, (like mentioning only the 'socialist' aspect of the 42nd amendment, but not 'secular'). I don't mind that. This is a propaganda piece. Like Uri, presentation of only one side of facts in a movie is legit.
At the end of the movie, I believe I have a perfect retort/replacement for "Log kya kehenge?": "Shastriji kya kehenge?" And the beauty is that the latter can be used from Parliament to Permit Room. And you can just say "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan!" and move on.
Rating: 0 Beards/5
Thanks and curses to Ishan Tuljapurkar for forcing this upon me. Apologies to Sani Dhakephalkar for choosing this over Detective Pikachu.
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