Satyagraha is yet another attempt by Prakash Jha to unmask the monster behind the politicians face, like his previous movies Satyagraha too takes on the system against the common man and shows how a single common man cannot make a difference even with a huge support and backing.
Satyagraha is a story of Dwarkanath (Amitabh Bachchan) who decides to take a stand against the system of a small constituency namely Ambikapur with the help of Manav (Ajay Devgan) a successful businessman who gets his things done by hook or by crook, Yasmin (Kareena Kapoor) a TV journalist who wants to fight for truth and does not believe in sensational news sections, Arjun (Arjun Rampal) is a local social worker who has been born and bought up in Ambikapur and shares the grief and pain of its residents. The fight is between The Jan Satyagraha Samiti including the former members vs the giant crocodile of the corrupt river Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpai) who has things his way or no way ! Drawn from the inspiration of Anna Hazare (read Amitabh Bachchan) demand for “Jan Lokpal Bill” Satyagraha loosely depicts what went wrong with the movement and how anything like this cannot work in the future.
Amitabh Bachchan can now be called the Father of Nation ooops Father of the Bollywood with an amazing performance and a very meaningful role Amitabh strikes gold. There was never a doubt that Amitabh cannot play such a role, with his command over the language and beautiful timing no other actor could have done this part better. His mass popularity on Social Networking Sites like Twitter and Facebook has helped him become more popular amongst the youth generation, this helps us relate to the character of a person who believes in truth and true sense of freedom.
Ajay Devgan was a little disappointing for a couple of reasons: A.) Ajay looks completely out of shape and looks like he has been not hitting the gym off late, B.) He does not have any meaty dialogues, punchlines or memorable one liners just like “Ata Maazi Satakli” of Singham & C.) Ajay Devgan has done this kind of a character N number of times and we have seen him perform better. For an actor like Ajay Devgan the performance bar has to go up with every new movie, any mistakes or under performance will definitely accepted by his fans specially after the Himmatwala fiasco.
Kareena Kapoor has a very subtle but very strong character, for a change we don’t see a glamour doll to fill the screen with her oomph and karizma, this time Kareena has a power packed role with a very clean and clear reflection of the character. A sensible journalist could have been played by many actress, but taking a risk of playing a leading lady in a movie amongst gigantic names and path breaking performers like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan & Manoj Bajpai is worth an applaud.
Arjun Rampal is getting better day by day or should we say the selection of his movies is getting wise, Heroine, Chakravyuh, Inkaar, D-Day and now Satyagraha what more can any actor ask for ! Once known as a rock faced actor and go ahead and win a National award is not a simple thing to do. With Satyagraha Arjun Rampal once again proves that no role is small or big its only good or bad, and if you can do justice to your role you will definitely not be ignored.
Manoj Bajpai has a special bond or rather a better understanding with the Prakash Jha or Ram Gopal Varma style of filmmaking, and he cannot go wrong in any ways. You can love him and you can hate him but you cannot ignore him, while watching the movie you cannot decide whether to love his acting or to hate the character, the class and the fineness shown by Manoj Bajpai as the cold blooded killer and full of corruption is played amazingly by him.
Amrita Rao plays a damsel in distress who loses her husband (Indraneel Sengupta) who is the son of Dwarkanath (Amitabh Bachchan) the character has a very fine outline in the beginning but the sheen and sharpness of the character gets lost in the crowd of seasoned characters and moreover does not have any purpose besides being the supplementary reason of begin of the revolution.
Prakash Jha as a director has done nothing wrong but hasn’t done anything new, what looks so easy and achievable looks just good on screen, we have seen this in all Prakash Jha movies right from Gangajal to Apaharan to Rajneeti to Chakravyuh and now Satyagraha. The most common thing in a Prakash Jha movie is Reformation of Society but the path is the same one small flame converting to a huge wildfire.
Overall Satyagraha is old wine in new bottle, the major let down of the movie is that it cannot decide whether doing a Satyagraha proved good for Amitabh & Co. or did it give a lesson that no one should mess up with the Politicos. When we go to see a Society Reforming movie we are expected to come out with a new thought process and inspiring new thoughts even though its for a few hours after the movie but it needs to be there, well in that case Satyagraha is more like an eye opener teaching you not to mess with the politicians or they will make your life miserable. To cut the long story short if you expect the movie to be a path breaking revolution or a Society Reforming Movie you will be disappointed, otherwise the movie a one time watch.
My Rating 2.5/5 (-1 for underrated performance and dialogues by Ajay Devgan, -1 for uncooked or may be weak story telling & -1/2 for boring and useless songs in the movie apart of the title song… Watch At Your Own Risk)
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