Movie Review: Satyagraha..is a hurriedly assembled movement

If there was ever a prize for good intentions, Prakash Jha would walk away with all the awards. Painfully, he has proven this time and again by picking sensitive and debate worthy topics but giving them a hurried treatment that seems too superficial and contrived for its own good. He did it with Aarakshan. He’s done it again with Satyagraha

What Satyagraha needed desperately was a lot more thinking through – a solidly established context; simmering under-currents leading up to the main spark that triggered a mass movement. However, Jha seems to have little time for trivial things like context establishment and character development. So you’ll just have to go along with the yarn he spins, unconvincingly so, amidst more than a mention of various retail products conveniently placed for advertisement. The wafer thin premise is so flimsy that, while it focuses on real issues and problems, it seems highly unrealistic and unrelatable

Off late, Jha also seems to have developed a penchant for black and white characters. If you were telling a fairy tale, sure – no problems with that. However, when you claim to be telling a realistic story such idealism is oft hard to believe. In fact, such is the level of idealism that down the line, when the movie tries to take a more neutral stand and give an important message, about the dangers of any form of extremism, it is almost too late. The unnecessary songs don’t help matters and even a jazzed up version of Raghupati Raghav..can’t save the day

Satyagraha is packed with a solid cast of characters and at the end of it all, they are really the ones that save the day and make this still an average watch, despite all its faults. Manoj Bajpai is in his element as the slimy yet wily politician as is Ajay Devgn in his yet another, intense avatar. Amitabh Bachan of course, delivers yet another solid performance, though considering his standards, it seems a little tired this time. On the downside, Kareena looks as if she has come straight from the sets of Heroine and her character is unconvincing to say the least. A heroine of her calibre deserved a much more complex character. The same cannot be said of Amrita Rao who still struggles with the fairly simple role she has. Arjun Rampal does a decent job for his fairly one dimensional character

To sum up then, Satyagraha was a good idea especially in today’s day and age. Some elements are woven quite well, especially the use and impact of social media. However, given the way the rest of the plot is woven, Satyagraha becomes unconvincing and unrelatable fare. If you wanna go, go for the solid performances and not much else.