Aarakshan

‘Arakshan’ had Big B (Bachchan), Chote Nawab (Saif Ali), a top heroine (D.Padukone), a dazzling performer (Manoj Bajpai) a future potential (Paritk Babbar), some really trustworthy supporting artists (Saurabh Shukla, Darshan Jariwala), even a special appearance from the dream girl (read aunty), a eyebrow raising subject, with an extremely gifted director, and above all the whole shooting of the movie was done in my hometown Bhopal. What possibly could have gone wrong? Well some things went wrong.

To be honest the movie starts on a high note with the first scene being an interview between Saif Ali (who plays a talented man from a lower cast) and 3 cast and background conscious hypocrites. But the next 20 minutes really took the graph of movie down, probably it was due to introduction of different characters, then comes that part of movie which actually is unbearable, it is an extremely pathetic ‘Basti Song’ which one may starts believing was not directod by Shri Prakash Jha, however the pace picks up with the announcement of Supreme court, allowing 27% reservation for OBC, and suddenly the whole society starts compartmentalizing in two groups, one who feels reservation is their right and second who feels cheeted. Amithbh Bachchan who plays a  ethical college Principal find himself in between these two groups, where constantly his loyalty is challenged by both the groups. Even loyalties of people who used to considered Mr Bachchans character to be God like are also challenged by constantly changing situations.

The first half of the movie is excellent with a strong theme and acidic dialogues, but the second part takes down the movie to new lows, one even starts wondering that these are two altogether different stories, one before the interval was actually about reservation but the one in the second half becomes about the fight of one man against private coaching classes. It may make sense to some people but it didn’t make any sense to me. My expectation was the director’s view over the subject, at least an honest bystander’s opinion. But Mr Jha disappointed big time in the second half, by digressing so much from the story altogether, as to reservation was never an issue to start with. The only reason I could think is that the director became scared, that by either favoring or condemning ‘reservation’ he may face protests by either of the communities, or may be due to political mileage he may loose (he himself is a politician).

However Amitabh Bachchan is just outstanding in the first half, in the second half the script weakens his otherwise flawless performance. Saif is convincing and likeable, Deepika has got scope and she has not disappointed, but Manoj Bajpai is not utilized to his potential, there is no ‘karara javaab’ from him this time, like he gave last time in ‘Rajneeti’ with the same director, but the real disappointment is Prateik, he is below average and after some time you may think his track in the movie was half baked as well. Hema Malini’s special appearance is uninspiring, in supporting cast Darshan Jariwala excels, Saurabh Shukla could have got more footage as he is a seasoned performer.

On the whole the movie is a mixed bag, with some good performances and sequences added with a disappointing second half.

Rating **1/2