SATYAGRAHA MOVIE REVIEW

Director Prakash Jha’s films are known to offer scathing takes on the state of administration and politics in the country. His works such as Rajneeti and Gangaajal have been highly acclaimed. After his recent films such as Aarakshan and Chakravyuh, Prakash is back with Satyagraha, another big multistarrer based on the political scene in the country.

The city of Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh is the scene of action and the film portrays how a big political revolution is kick started in this place by a group of individuals who believe in democracy and power to the people.

A senior statesman who believes in Gandhian principles, an aggressive young leader, a capitalist businessman turned crusader, a happening journalist and a wicked politician are the key players in this old-fashioned political game.

The film’s single biggest plus is its powerhouse cast comprising the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Manoj Bajpai and Arjun Rampal. Amitabh’s character is along the lines of Anna Hazare and he is called Daduji by the local masses who stand by his word and actions. The veteran is at ease portraying this character, which reminds us of his Sarkar makeover.

Kareena plays a journalist who takes extra interest in this issue as she shares special feelings for Ajay Devgn, playing a capitalist businessman who is lured into the movement after the death of his close friend. This being a Kareena film post her marriage, we can see her inhibitions in the few intimate scenes with Ajay Devgn.

Manoj Bajpai’s one-liners and diction manage to entertain and the ace actor nails yet another performance. The other actors are pretty much passe with Amrita Rao being as pretty and pleasing as ever.

We have the director endorsing the increasing role that social media is playing in our lives today, as a mass medium which can be used for campaigning and transmitting information. But there isn’t anything new that the director has to offer in Satyagraha as we already have seen peaceful candlelight protests, hunger protests, violence instigated at mass gatherings etc.

The songs in the movie don’t have much of a role to play in taking the movie forward and they could have been done away with. Like the other Prakash Jha films based on politics, Satyagraha also has many crowd scenes and the grandeur in these scenes has been brought out well by cinematographer Sachin Krishna.

With the first half being a pretty interesting ride till the intermission segment, the film stutters at several points in the second half before reaching the finale where Ajay Devgn brings it to a closure with a big monologue on how the youth should nurture the fire within, for a betterment in the country’s governance.