Satyagraha Hindi Movie Review

Clichés galore, stereotypes aplenty, visit the familiar terrain of Prakash Jha in yet another angst filled scenario. In fact this could well be the extension of Aarakshan enter Ajay exit Saif, enter Kareena exit Deepika. There he dramatized Mandal now it is the Anna Hazare movement against corruption. This is typical Prakash Jha genre. Yet something is amiss. The aborted anti-corruption movement is the text of the script. Yet again, a la Aarakshan the film maker is willing to bite incapable to chew, ready to shout, unwilling to strike.
Or, is that the exact problem? It is easy to point fingers at Mum Mohan Singh or any Modification thereafter, but where and what about the citizen? As a nation of finger pointers is this just about chest thumping and then surreptitiously contributing to the malice we speak against. We seem to be desperately waiting for the Messiah to work the magic. Even as we have retarded into a collective of finger pointers (as is the case with the script) the murals and motifs are getting too predictable and loud and lacking in punch. The script lacks punch (as if that is the cynical and discerned message!!). Take for example the crude comments from the audience, in a romantic scene or the tasteless reaction from some sitting in the audience, it is surely not just about the yawn filled script, it is about a tendency that seeks remedy without cooperation, being self contradictory, unaccountable judgemental and regrettably disdainful.
Dwarakanath (Amitabh) is a retired school teacher in Ambikapur living in style that defies his profession or his values. The stern elder patriarch does not even approve of his son Akhilesh (Indraneil Sen Gupta) having a drink on the sly or being weaned into the world of business by good friend Manav (Ajay Devgan). Akhilesh is killed in a road accident or so we believe till it is proved to be a murder at the instance of the Home Minister Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpaye). When Dwarakanath slaps the District Magistrate he is promptly jailed and handed over for custodial interrogation, Manav returns to help his friend’s widow Sumitra (Amrita Rao- who incidentally symbolises the lack of soul in the script with a picture perfect presence !!). Helping him in exposing the corrupt system are journalist Yasmin Ahmed (Kareena Kapoor – too dressed and glamorous to navigate the demands of the role) and local aspiring leader Arjun (Arjun Rampal- another easily essayed outing).
The script now moves to Ram Leela grounds where Dwarakanath leads the fight against corruption, we have a dekho at those who believe revolution comes without a price tag and is a product of facebook tags and sms texts. Here revolution and change can come in the midst of rock music, and as one character puts it a camp for fun , soft drinks and pizzas. The problem is well chronicled but perhaps a tad too near and known to public memory for such a strenuous effort. In case you are looking for the film maker to push the envelope you are bound to be disappointed. He like many of us is clueless of the solution and is entwined in the many contradictions we face. For example his Satyagraha finds the finale dripped in fights stunts and violence. He symbolically even visits Chauri Chara and takes Anna for the central character.
Is this Prakash Jha’s statement that Anna has failed? Is it a statement clarifying that this nation has not got to terms with the passing away of the Mahatma? Is it just a potboiler making some megabucks at the box office with a star studded assemble of actors who carry their image into the script? Why did Prakash Jha one of our better film makers fail to deliver when he chose a subject that is so, so relevant and somewhere occupying atleast the peripheral psyche of the nation? In fact if the screenplay is jittery, the direction is meandering, the editing is perfunctory.
Yet Satyagraha is worth a watch for it atleast raises a few questions and gives you two worth watching performances. Amitabh returns to the son loosing dad role and does his role with studied sincerity. May be even he is not at his best, but he is good and that matters. Ajay Devgan too is in familiar territory. He has always been comfortable with Prakash Jha (save Rajneeti) and he takes the film on his shoulder.
I am worried and as seriously as I can sound, why can Prakash Jha not be a Costa Garvis? Is the problem just Jha? Obviously not. Haunting is the thought that is so well stated by Jeremy Poolman (The Road of Bones):
And the wind whining and complaining,
Is shaking house and forest, straining
Not single fir trees one by one,
But the whole wood , all trees together….