In line with the present trend to wear patriotism on your sleeves and exhibit it at the drop of a hat , the social media is abuzz with whats
app messages asking people whether it is right to watch Sanju because it was a
PR exercise to clean up Sanjay Dutt’s image as had admitted to cavorting with people
from the mafia, one who had been guilty for waging war against the country.
There is no doubt about his incrimination. He has been judged and sent to jail
for those very reasons. But to tell people not watch a movie made on his story
is baffling. By that logic we must steer clear of movies made on all sorts of
criminals in history. We have lapped up dictators’ stories of Hitler and
Mussolini intrigued by their emotional bend of mind. The same curiosity applies
here. What made this actor coming from a family with strong credentials behave
the way he did?
Frankly I found the average movie
actually more of a lesson for today’s youth than an entertaining peek into
someone’s sordid life. I say a lesson because the aftereffects of drug addition
comes through strongly and should have a lasting impact on youth who could be
influenced. I say average because it
comes from the stable of our favorite Raju Hirani who is a magician with social
message stories and his Jhadoo ke Jhappi, revisiting Gandhiji’s ideals, whose Munnabhaisms
are legendary and reflective of how cinema can really influence society with a
lasting effect. Surprisingly the people who object to Sanju the biography I am
sure were hooting and cheering for Munnabhai.
Sanju traces the story of Sanjay
Dutt the actor from his younger days to the time he got jailed and his travesty
with drugs and his faltering relationship with his father and his most recent
tryst with people across the line with criminal backgrounds.
Raju makes no effort to sweeten
the deal for the actor in return for sharing his story. The story is as gory
and true as can be. There are no apologies for him. He is shown as a person
always given to treading the thin line of morality and violating it at every
turn starting off on drugs thanks to evil intentioned friends. He is unable to
live up to the morally high ground that his parents have set their life
on. But that is a slim excuse. He goes
bad with his eyes wide open. The movie does not shy away from depicting him as
an immoral person in relationships or not living up to friendships. And to be
fair it does not glorify him either.
The problem however, with the
movie is its anecdotal style trying to find a solid footing to establish his weak
excuse on why he was found in the possession of an AK 56 gun. The reasoning
sounds logical enough to believe considering the threat to his family and him was
real and established and the fact that he foolishly thought he could protect
himself with a gun. Obviously these guns will be available from nefarious
elements with who he obviously has no excuse to be in the company of. He had a
proclivity to rub shoulders with criminals and it is explained in passing by
inferring to the pressure that all film actors succumb to. But none of the
others turned into law breaking citizens by that logic.
The director walks the thin line
of appearing to white wash his crimes
and at the same time be frank about what led to his imprisonment trying to
appear brutally honest in making a biopic.
The reason the film does not hold
your rapt attention is because the director dilutes his magical touch by being clearly
so awestruck with his subject that he allows all the other characters to fade
into ordinary and flat existences. Even Paresh Rawal looks unsure about his
role and the surprise realistic elements he usually brings to his character is
missing. Everyone is raving about Vicky Kaushal but I found him quite commercial and
more focused on mimicking the character than blending into it. He was just
trying too hard to fit into a commercial movie and that shows and he has a
considerable role in the movie. He looked and sounded more credible in the
other movies he has been seen in recently. One would have liked to see more of
Manisha Koirala playing the mother and Diya Myrza the wife. And veterans like
Sayaji Shinde, who can make even real dons quake with their portrayals, steals
the show in just two scenes that he has. The sisters at least one of who has a
very prominent role in real life is shown with plastic emotions in the background
without a single dialogue and one wonders why? Anushka has a completely
forgettable role but executes it
sincerely
So what keeps you glued till the
end is the restless creativity that Ranbir invests his role with never
generating laughs because he is imitating someone. I kept flitting between
remembering he is Ranbir and not the real Sunjay many times during the movie.
He is fabulous and the prime reason one may want to watch this film. The music is
completely forgettable except for the retro ‘Main Badiya tub bhi Badiya”.
So does the movie make us feel
sympathetic to Sunjay Dutt? Absolutely not I think and therein lies the honest
approach of Raju to his subject and not manipulating our emotions to support
the man who no doubt went the wrong way and paid for it. But whether he is a
terrorist? If you follow the man and his actions you really doubt he has the necessary
gumption and thought process to execute evil on mankind. It is not an outstanding movie but keeps you
rooted for its length. You leave the theatre wishing it could have been better
fiction.
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