Mounted on a large scale this male bonding tale which is all about the old
love triangle with the curiosity around the question as to who is likely t get
the lady – if at all. The film invests much, too much in the physicality and
that is where the film is: survival or rejection. It is obvious that film maker
Ali Abbas Zafar has chosen a cast that is known for looks. The two actors have
prematurely arrived at the script. Not that they are wanting in sincerity.
Brawl, sincerity and well-toned physiques, not to mention savvy marketing do
not make up for 153 of absorbing cinema. There goes the plot.
Built around the problem of refugees we have two juvenile delinquents crossing the
barbed fence into India. With hope in their eyes and attitude in their system
the two boys get caught in vortex of societal and circumstantial crime, the
lads grow into men and still keep their constant tryst with crime and no
punishment. Naïve with affairs of the heart, they have an instinct for crime
and soon become the Coal Kings and the mafia that rules Calcutta. A new
Sherwood forest is in the making of the city after the birth of Bangladesh.
Bikram (Ranveer) and Bala (Arjun) are the two new macho boys of Bollywood
caught up in the black black world of coal and crime. All is good going
including that they get forged identity papers through Kaka (Saurabh Shukla)
till Cupid in very filmy ishtyle enters the picture in the form of Nandita
(Priyanka Chopra). After all like Victor Hugo would want us to believe: “Do you
hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.”
Even as the two are in winsome romance with the lady who has just whiffed past,
there is also the fly in the ointment in the form of Inspector Satyajeet Sarcar
(Irfan Khan). The Tom and Jerry fight begins. Also romance cracks the hitherto
bonding that had stood the test and viles of Time. With both the gym perfect
body guys proposing love to the cabaret artist Nandita, the naïve are curious
as to who she would say yes to, and how the other would take the rejection.
Some are also curious as to how the chor police game would end and the bravado
of the protagonist on the wrong side of law end.
Where the film works: The film maker and the main cast –
Ranveer and Arjun display a high level of sincerity. The clichéd script not
withstanding there is a degree of drama in the air. The boys and the film maker
do enhance the scale of the film. Cinematographer Aseem Mishra gets a lot life
to Khottadih Colliery area, Durgapur subdivision of Eastern Coalfields Limited
but cannot resist to put the Hooghly and the Howrah Bridge in the back drop
ever so often to remind the viewer that the film is happening at Calcutta.
Why things don’t work: This is not the time of Raj Kapoor or
even Manmohan Desai. The average attention span is challenged with a narration
that lasts a whole 153 minutes. A good half hour canned with passion but
chopped to precision would have worked wonders. Also the support system to the
film is lack lustre. While Irfan the actor is his usual confident self, the role
is used as an excuse. You are also deprived of strong dramatic moments or
clashes between the wrong doers and the police. They seem to be at best
participating at a Debate – not even the fervour our modern day politicians
bring to Parliament—pepper spray and all!! Priyanka dolls herself to
irritation. You need to be a diehard fan of the actress to restrain from being
critical. I rather die than be diehard fan. If ignorance hurts than she has
just earned it in good measure.
The guys – Ranveer and Arjun (the former more flamboyant and the later
restrained) try their level best, albeit a trifle too early in their career. No
do not expect a Amit – Shatru clash as in Kala Pathar. The production house may
be the same, but times and the approach have changed. Now the stunt master has
taken over the script and dialogue writer. The film is Bollywood’s style of
reiterating what Nelson Mandela said: “When a man is denied the right
to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
L. Ravichander.