Satyagraha Review

One Line Review: A power-packed endeavor to befit a gigantic question raising social movement into a musical cinematic jar.

Positive Points: Fantabulous direction, Mighty character performances, Revolutionary storyline, Excellent cinematography, Inspirational music, Authentic character attires.

Negative Points: Absolutely unnecessary romantic music track between Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor.

Plot: Akhilesh (Indraneil Sengupta) is an engineer and is the son of Dwarka Anand (Amitabh Bachchan), who is a humble retired teacher in a small village. Akhilesh loses his life in an accident. Dwarka Anand, fondly called as Daduji, is the man of principles, an idealist. On death of his son, a compensation of Rs. 25 lakhs is announced by the political minister Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpai). Akhilesh's widow, Sumitra (Amrita Rao) constantly makes rounds to the government offices to get the compensation, however she confronts struggle in achieving it. Sumitra is in the extreme oppose of corruption in the nation. This entire episode makes Dwarka Anand to reach at the tip of his anger and compels him to give a tight slap to a chesty high-ranking official. Dwarka Anand gets imprisoned for this act.

Then enters Manav Raghavendra (Ajay Devgn), the best friend of Akhilesh and multi-millionnaire business tycoon. Now, Sumitra asks Manav for his help in this matter. Assuring Sumitra to rescue Dwarka Anand's family from this perturbation, Manav plans to give rise to a grand revolution over the boiling issue of corruption in the country. Manav thinks of assimilating more and more "aam janata" to join this movement. The social activist and an aspiring politician, Arjun Singh (Arjun Rampal) and a passionate television reporter, Yasmin Ahmed (Kareena Kapoor) too become a part of this coercive ruffle and the story proceeds with blood-bath and a pool of challenges invited by the dirty politics.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: After delivering super hits studded with hefty social message, like 'Gangaajal' and 'Raajneeti', the eminent director Prakash Jha re-discovered his fresh magnum opus in the form of this film, which again encompasses a strong social message for a layman to stand against the corruption issue in India. The movie seems following the footsteps of "Ahinsa" of the great National leader Mahatma Gandhi. Although not in a direct way, this political-thriller resembles Anna Hazare's 'Jan Lokpal Andolan' that was an anti-corruption movement, in some way or the other. This massive movement moved the entire nation and our constitution, thereby forcing the Parliament to take a sincere note of it. With this film, Prakash Jha had tried to spotlight the shady politics, in which some opportunistic politicians are ready to cash in. The director seems opening the door for mobilizing the Indian society over the corruption and injustice issue in the nation. The flawless and meticulous script attests the awesome, tightly-executed direction along with the volatile character performances and provoking social message. The second half of the film tightens the existing grip in the story.

This socio-political tale rightly bangs on the democratic time bomb on the verge of bursting. Fabulous portrayal of diminishing moral values, audaciously falling economy and debased system is attempted to be displayed in this film. The absolutely unnecessary romantic song between Manav and Yasmin gives a diverse and forceful diversion to the story, creating the sole loophole in the film. The character attires also went hand in hand with the tale, as the characters were well-dressed in Khadi and conventional outfits. Each character is bestowed with substantial screen time to bring out the best in him or her and this adds up in taking the film to the next level. The movie is adorned with inspirational music, excellent cinematography, editing and matchless background score that gels very well with the intense storyline.

Performance: Needless to say the 'shehenshah' Amitabh Bachchan delivered a superlative performance as a modest man turning hostile, when situation forces him to be. Bachchan senior has wonderfully mirrored the emotions and body language of a "satyagrahi", who is fighting against a social issue with empty stomach. Though Kareena Kapoor enacted her role convincingly well enough, she seemed over glamourized, which was not expected from a television reporter working in an anger-bursting city. The 'Singham' star Ajay Devgn made the audience to pay hats off for his speechless and unmatched performance as Manav Raghavendra.

Arjun Rampal portrays his role brilliantly as per the need of the script. Manoj Bajpai once again proved himself as the powerhouse of talent by essaying an excellent antagonist, a scheming and shrewd political minister in the film, right from his look, facial expressions to his overall appearance. Amrita Rao also shined well in her role as a woman, who falls prey to corruption.

Music: The famous music composer duo Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant carved a melodious, soothing and touching music. The music track like 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' fuels the intensity in the story and the visuals of the song contribute in raising questions against the corrupt system. The other songs like 'Janta Rocks' and 'Aiyo Ji' are a complete no-no for this political saga. The title track 'Satyagraha' steals the entire show and seems path breaking with a potential to give the goosebumps. This impactful song can be dedicated to all those, who had already suffered a lot due to corruption.

Final Verdict: The film can be quoted as the one that strongly lectures all the masses for turning rebellious and bring in the much-needed revolution. This can certainly prove a master-piece in the repertoire of the entire team of the film. The mighty script does not let the film to be direful hotchpotch. In a nutshell, the movie can be said as a gallant effort to enliven the fouled face of Indian political system on the celluloid.