Hope all the democratic party feels the same regarding their voters, that’s public. Satyagraha doesn’t offer anything new but whatever it offer, it has a soul, a heart.
At certain phase of life, everybody has seen some form of corruption. May be, we also been a part of it. But the way Satyagraha has shown the power of common people, it may excite you that you could be the revolution, or may be a major part of it. It shows both, pros & cons, when a revolution goes extreme. But after some part of time the reality from the film start vanishing & it moves toward a dramatic or could be said as melodramatic end. Finale of the movie produces the glimpse of Gangajal in your mind.
The film is a story of an idealistic senior citizen Dwarika Anand who transforms into a public figure Daduji, after he slaps the DM of his district. He is supported by Mohan Raghvendra, a friend of his late son. Then come Arjun Singh an aspiring political figure of the city. The group is joined by Yasmeen, a journalist by profession. Also there is Sumitra, daughter in law of Dwarika Anand, just to provide him support, literally.
The film is bit long. The romantic angle between Mohan & Yasmeen is unnecessary. Also it is stretched by an equally unimportant song. Toward the end film seems to try to match the Anna’s Movement, yet at the same time distancing itself, so that they could call themselves different. This all create some haphazard sequences & goes terribly wrong as far as reality is concerned. One can relate Daduji as Anna, Mohan as Arvind Kejriwal, Yasmeen as may be Kiran Bedi. Then there is a glimpse of Shanti Bhushan in lawyer enacted by the character. If your dealing it like any other Masala Film, I’m completely okay with that.
Film shines mostly in Acting department. Mostly everyone has played their character superbly. Though some of the supporting cast goes over the top most of the time, may be because of the script. They are trying to provide some cheap laugh or so. But the man who shines most is Amitabh Bachchan. The role which suits him to the tee. One can clearly hear the modulation in dialogue delivery with his deteriorating health, on screen. Also in some of his emotional scene with Ajay Devgn, you could feel that zing.
Prakash Jha knows the politics like back of his palm. So what he could show, as a part of internal politics, may be no one else could depict, so properly. But the problem with him is, he has develop a kind of template for himself. One will always find some unnecessary item song, in between the film. Somewhere around you could relate some sequence with his previous works. Demise of some important character, creating some turn of incidents. And most importantly the tone remains the same
Music is always a major set back in Jha’s film. They are more likely same in every film. This film needs some inspirational song like Khoon Chala from Rang De Basanti or title track from Chak De India. Janta Rocks tries hard but fails miserably. Raghupati Raghav Rajaram impress a bit, may be because you all have heard it various time. Cinematography is okay. Editing is quite nice.
Overall, Satyagraha starts like a sequel to Rang De Basanti moved from Delhi to small town in MP. It impress until then. But then Jha introduces his template & film starts falling down. It’s the acting which provide the movie some kind of support before it could fall completely flat. Still one can go and watch movie, because it is way way better than the biggest hit of this year.
Rating- Two & A Half Out of Five
Mirage of my mind 