Utterly Disappointing!!

When you dare to design a complicated social platter with respect to a multicultural society like India, you must have the balls to make it receptive enough for the audience. When you know that someone like Prakash Jha is daring to take on the most complicated and burning social issue of the country, you inevitably have the highest expectation of witnessing a memorable cinematic experience. It’s an obvious human psychological instinct that it always expects excessively from people doing invincibly well in their field.

Prakash Jha has been associated with some of the most controversial and yet successful films like Gangaajal, Rajneeti and Apaharan. All of them were a deep insight onto the complications of the Indian society ruled by some of the most complicated political, social and economic contours. I know that sounds highly boring, but believe me, if you have watched all his movies, you might have some sleepless nights. But not with his new venture ‘Chakravyuh’ because….I guess Mr. Jha has started watching too many Balaji horrors (by Balaji horrors I mean the ridiculous soaps and serials that have always been the sole reason for feminine dominance over the idiot box!).

Chakravyuh is the most disappointing cinematic experience that I have come across this year (of course I didn’t dare to watch Rowdy Rathore and its prototypes). With a highly sensitive issue like Naxalism, it is always necessary to have a crude understanding about the complicacy of the issue. While watching the movie, I was just wondering about the deliberate attempt to make it a typical Masala Bollywood movie. Adding to the misery was a predictable story. Far more worse were excessively melodramatic performances by Esha Gupta, Arjun Rampal and Abhay Deol. Manoj Bajpayee and Om Puri were the only saviour in this regard.  

The only silver lining that one may find in the movie is the cinematography. Action by Abbas Ali Moghul is also appreciable, but not just good enough to give you the jitters that one had while watching Gangaajal. Prakash Jha’s attempt to make the film look more real succeeded to a little extent with the locations. Excluding Kailash Kher’s ‘Mehengaai’, all other songs were just forced injections in the story. Concluding such a huge issue just by saying that the war will continue until we find some immediate solution reminded me of my moral science class during my school days. I would really want Mr. Prakash Jha to watch ‘Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa’ once. Well, if he has already watched it a dozen times, he should watch it again. Because it’s not that simple as he has tried to make it through his unquestionable directorial abilities.

I know I sound really pissed. Well, I am. Why? You don’t spend your precious 250 bucks from your pocket on such a disappointing attempt on such a burning issue.