Producer Kumar MangatDirector Priyadarshan
Music Pritam Chakraborty
Writer Robin Bhatt, Akash Khurana
Lyrics Irshad Kamil
Release Date 15-Oct-2010
Let's start with the presumption on how this film would have been conceptualized. Ajay Devgn plans to star in a hardcore action film. He gets his regular writers Robin Bhatt and Akash Khurana to work out a story between some extended action sequences. Bhatt and Khurana visit the DVD library and zero in on the 1988 Oscar nominated film Mississippi Burning (Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe) for the screenplay. To Indianize the plot and make it seem more topical, they refer to newspaper and decide on the social theme of honour killings that's making headlines. So the racism in the original is opportunely adapted to the caste conflicts.
'There's no honour in honour killings' reads the tagline of the film. Sadly there is no honour killing in this film. This three-hour long action-drama merely has a five-minute mention on honour killing that too in a flashback account. And come to think of it, even the supposed honour killing shown in the film is not a premeditated cold-blooded murder but more of an impulsive act. Beyond that the film just squanders in the guise of a CBI investigation on the killings. Be assured that even after watching this film, you won't be enlightened one bit on the issue of honour killings beyond what's common knowledge. Neither will you be moved on the matter.
'From the director of Gardish and Virasat' emphasizes the trailer of the film. What would have been a more apt ticker is 'From the actor of Omkara, Apaharan, Gangaajal and Halla Bol'. It seems like Ajay Devgn essentially wanted Priyadarshan to model this film on the lines of movies made by his favourite filmmakers. So they derive the rustic setting from Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara and also shoot the film in same locations (Wai). The crude and corrupt bureaucracy is reminiscent of Rajkumar Santoshi and Prakash Jha films. In fact Jha seems to be a prominent inspiration. Ajay Devgn and Bipasha Basu replicate their lost-and-found romance track from Prakash Jha's Apaharan . Further Jha's Mrityudand gives way for the fundamentalist village priest and his radical group who propagate the caste divide. And like in that film, even here a female fires bullets on the baddies in the climax.
Though the film has two heroes and over that as CBI Officers, they still remain powerless for a major part of the runtime because a rural radical mafia is glorified more viciously. Officer Pratap (Ajay Devgn) and his superior Siddhant (Akshaye Khanna) arrive in Jhanjhar village to investigate about three missing students who had last called from there. Nobody is willing to cooperate on the investigation from the cops to the common man. Inspector Ajatshatru Singh (Paresh Rawal) gives them a tough time. Further they face the backlash of the Shool Sena, a hate group that looks down upon the lower caste.
You patiently wait for the film to touch the theme of honour killing but all that you get is an uninteresting investigation escapade. When they are still unable to solve the mystery, Pratap's ex-love (Bipasha Basu) unveils facts in flashback. What is revealed is your easiest possible guess since the villains are clearly defined and demarcated from the start. So the film fails to work both as a social drama or a crime thriller. Rather the only aspect of the film that clicks is its camouflaged but chief genre – action.
The action sequences directed by B Thyagarajan and R P Yadav are compellingly choreographed and there's no denying that you enjoy watching Ajay Devgn chase the villain over rooftops and car-tops. The action varies from an offshoot of Ketan Mehta's Mirch Masala to exaggerated ones where Devgn traverses through a running locomotive. Of course there's nothing wrong in making a full-fledged action film. But what's criminal is being pretentious and presenting it as a film with social cause. Actioners like Wanted or Dabanng are any time better for they don't carry false pretexts.
The narrative conveniently credits an extremist village priest for the caste divide but his character is relegated to that of a junior artist. There is absolutely no background account on him or his fanatic group. Further they don't have any immediate connection with the honour killing of the three students in this film. The script fails to explore the theme of honour killings beyond the newspaper headlines. It shows the oppression of the upper caste on the lower caste in the same clichéd mold like cruel thakurs and zamindars were shown repressing the villagers in formulaic Bollywood flicks.
The performances are as much hard-hitting as the editing and sound design. Akshaye Khanna is decent in his part. Ajay Devgn takes a backseat as his subordinate but has more screen presence. This is a kind of role that he always excels in. His action and expressions are impeccable. Paresh Rawal gets back to his villainous roots and reminds of his Dacait days with the viciousness in his character. Bipasha Basu is wasted. Sameera Reddy lacks the sex-appeal to pull off an item number.
Priyadarshan has constantly been arguing that he switched to mindless comedy capers from meaningful serious cinema because the latter has no takers. If this is the kind of serious cinema he has to offer, we are better off with his comedies. This is Aakroshious!
