Satyagraha
Year: 2013
Director: Prakash Jha
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal

Weaving real life socio-political issues into the story-line and presenting a big canvas picture with a multi-star cast is a formula that has worked well for Prakash Jha. This time around he decides to base his film on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption agitation, including many real life-inspired incidents in the plot. How does the experiment pan out?

What’s the plot?

After facing inordinate delay in getting the government compensation for the his son’s accidental death, a retired school-principal (Amitabh Bachchan) loses his temper over the district collector’s callous, insensitive attitude and slaps him in public. The irate government official gets the old man arrested, little knowing the far-reaching consequences his action would have. The general public, led by the principal’s son’s multi-millionaire businessman friend (Ajay Devgan) and a firebrand local politician (Arjun Rampal), starts an agitation, first to release the old man and later to support his demand to end the rampant corruption in government offices. How would this movement shape up in face of many complex challenges? Will political machinations orchestrated by a wily minister (Manoj Bajpai) scuttle the agitation by discrediting its leaders? Is it possible to have solutions through such mass action?

What’s hot?

·         Jha manages to bring attention to many burning corruption-related issues by cleverly basing the story-line on recent news-items.

·         The first half of the film is interesting.

·         Thanks to an experienced and well-known cast, the performances are competent.

·         Manoj Bajpai scores again in a villainous performance. His sly, slippery politician is noteworthy.

·         The music does have a few hummable songs.

What’s not?

·         The film loses its pace and moves in circles in the second half.

·         The climax is ineffective.

·         The romantic sub-plot between a tycoon (Devgan) and a TV-news-anchor (Kareena Kapoor) is melodramatic and patchy.

·         The political wheeling-dealing shown in the film is unconvincing and over-the-top.

·         Bachchan and Devgan surprisingly do not manage to bring something extra to the table. By their lofty standards, their lead performances are plain average.

Verdict

Prakash Jha’s obsession for using same set of actors (Devgan, Rampal, Bachchan, Bajpai); his penchant for mob-scenes (rallies, riots, lathi-charges) and his tendency to use headline-inspired plots have lost their efficacy. Satyagraha appears a stale, tired and muddled follow-up to Jha’s earlier films such as Rajneeti and Aarakshan. It manages to rake up some important sociopolitical issues, without adding anything significant to the discussion.

Rating

2 and ½ stars.