MANJUNATH: Stories with such strong relevance need to be made…and watched more often! [3/5]

In one of the cinema-friendly sequences where the corrupt oil-mafia Golu Goel [Played by convincing Yashpal Sharma] starts seeing and questioning his victim Manjunath’s inner conscience about why wouldn’t he compromised with the on-going corrupted till neck system and if he really believes that his death could bring any iota of the change he has foreseen for country’s future, Manjunath’s blank and worried face brings many questions on the table. For that matter and many more, Sandeep A. Varma’s MANJUNATH is socially very very relevant and an honest effort to underline a 27-year old whistleblower’s sacrifice on the line of duty.

Based on the real life incident of Marketing Manager at Indian Oil Corporation Manjunath’s cold-blooded murder by local oil-mafia, MANJUNATH successfully attempts the documentation of what happened when, why and how. The scattered narrative that goes back and forth to create the enigma that could meet its decided climax with all the pieces of the puzzle put together is very interesting and engaging. Though the film moves at a snail’s pace and seems a bit too stretched at time, it is the raw and real nature of the film that doesn’t bring it down. Film is extensively shot on the real locations in eastern Uttar Pradesh where the actual events happened.  

It is also one of those rare dramas where the protagonist is never a typical hero material but a common looking man who can be too nervous, anxious and restless against the powerful and corrupts to be any possible ground for the rise of a successful confrontation. So, when at first you see Manjunath in his panicky state of mind in shock of what might happen to him, you would never believe your guts that this man could ever stand strong against people of such criminal stature.

MANJUNATH’s biggest strength is the casting of the lead. With his geeky common looks and shaky mannerism, the first-timer Sasho Satiiysh Sarathy takes his own time to make a strong connect with the viewers but once you get comfortable with him, he cuts himself loose with quite a relatable performance. Seema Biswas and Kishore Kadam playing his parents deliver a complete knockout show, especially Seema Biswas. Her chemistry with her son Manjunath in the film has a sheer share of warmth and affection one could expect from any mother-son bonding.

Music score by Indian rock band Parikrama has an experimental touch but sadly doesn’t leave any identifiable mark. Camerawork by Prakash Kutty is excellently atmospheric and earthy. Film if falters on any ground, it is the dead pace in the first half and the too stretched second half in showing the after-effects of Manjunath’s murders including the crowd-funding at IIM by his batch mates to smoothen the fight for justice. A tighter and crispier version at edit table would have been a lot better for the film as whole.

At the end, it is a film that demands one time watch because of its social relevance and a real heroic tale we don’t see, hear or read much nowadays. Corruption has degraded our values in real life to much extent; hopefully this film doesn’t get affected much with cinematic corruption and stays true to its intention, execution and effect at most. A good watch! [3/5]      

SATYAGRAHA: Formulaic Exploitation of Freedom of speech! Corruption hits cinema! [2/5]

Corruption in our system has been in practice for so long now that you can easily find its traces in our day-to-day life. It is so rehearsed-so exercised that we might not even consider it now a threat to our society but when the same strikes in art like cinema, it still hurts, badly. Prakash Jha’s so-called social drama SATYAGRAHA is a victim of corruption in cinema. Formulaic approach of Jha’s own league contaminates the power of story-telling. Forced Star-value pollutes the intensity and effort.

Taking a prominent lead from Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and a few other sensational news headlines in the past, SATYAGRAHA roams around an idealistic retired principal [played passionately by Amitabh Bachchan] who is so much confined into his ideas that he can be very blatant with anyone against his concept of morality. Trust me, in few scenes you would be thanking God that your father in real is not like him. After losing his extremely talented engineer son in a road-accident [referring to the Satyendra Dubey murder case, if you remember], in frustration to not know how to deal with corruption in the system, Daduji slaps the district magistrate and is now behind the bars.

To set him free, joins hands an ambitious businessman of promising future [Ajay Devgn in his usual], a local crowd-pulling youth leader [Arjun Rampal wasted in his ‘Rajneeti’ look] and a dedicated journalist [Kareena Kapoor Khan-the most irritating of all] who merely believes in just one rule of journalism that you should look presentable. So, you never find her without heavily done make-up in any of the frames she’s in. Manoj Bajpai slips into a caricature-ish comical politician who’s naively uncomfortable with the concept of lawmakers taking instructions & suggestions to improve from public as a part of democratic system. So, the conflict to bring inevitable change in the system turns into a final showdown between the government and team Satyagraha.

Problem with the film lies in its too idealistic characters to make connect and events happenings in the most suitable manner. Film struggles to speak loud and clear on the issue and ends up in an exploited version of the ‘freedom of speech’ that can also be referred as the ‘freedom to preach’. In its 2 hour 32 min of excruciating duration, it goes on and on and on till an equally infertile dramatic climax.

All I can request/warn/suggest Mr. Jha that please rediscover his own self beyond this fixed parameters of star-driven half-cooked hopeless social dramas just for the sake of making it or the day is not very far when we would have another ‘Ram Gopal Verma’ in Bollywood. If not in the right manner, some statements should not be made at all as you are killing the opportunity for someone else. [2/5]