Movie Review: Halla Bol

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Halla Bol

The master of cliché Raj Kumar Santoshi makes a valiant effort to break out from the masala mode and all but falls flat on his face. My eternal complaint to Bollywood regarding good and original stories remains firmly in place. Here, our man, cashes in on the Jessica Lal episode and has tried to interpolate it with the tragic saga of Safdar Hashmi. Even the name of the movie has been inspired (groan) by the play being enacted by Hashmi when he was murdered.
Nevertheless there was enough potential to make a powerful political statement. Here is where you need a director with a strong political conviction and not just an ordinary movie maker. You will have to wait till the interval for the movie to develop any substance. The basic question of the untapped collective social conscience which the movie chooses to explore and explain remains unanswered. The elusive bird called social responsibility is sought but lost in the reams of wasted celluloid. A laudable cause but a lost effort. So who is responsible?
Ajay Devgun, for being the wooden and unlikely hero for a cause. He moves through the movie like a disinterested zombie. What the hell happened to him after Ganga Jal and Omkara??
Vidya Balan, for choosing to remain in doormat roles despite her huge talent and her atrocious sense of dressing. I can do far better shopping from my local Rehri Market.
The honourable exception, of course, is Pankaj Kapoor who as usual has turned in a powerhouse of a performance and will remain my only reason for recommending to anyone to watch the movie.
Sukhwinder Singh is one of my favourite singers but I am not sure he can deliver as a music director as well. Where the hell did he find this ten ring fingered over nourished overfed Sabri for rendering a horrible quawalli? None of the other songs do credit to his talent either.
Santoshi ought to contemplate retirement! Farcical and pretentious directors like him and of his ilk like Bhansali, Karan whatever should be dumped in the Arabian Sea. And arise Aameer Khan, the future belongs to you.