Satyamev Jayate, Movie Review: John Abraham's Petrol, Maachis & Badla Rollout Is A Heady Mix
You won't mind this John Abraham film if you are a sucker for those Dharamji and MIthunda movies- haath ke badle haath, aankh ke badle aankh aur jaan ke badle jaan..
Brotherhood, revenge and a flashback, Samajh gaye na? So, where had I seen this before? Everywhere. How many times? Infinite. But yet, Satyamev Jayate springs a few surprises and manages to hold you till the end.
Alongside you can
also play a game of decoding the names of areas in Mumbai that start with S, A,
T and Y till the interval before the narrative becomes a one-on-one direct
clash between the law-breaker (John Abraham) and the honest cop (Manoj
Bajpayee). Thank God for that, but see the irony- the film's editor gets up at
this very point and makes an exit! The second half should have been crisper.
John Abraham And Manoj Bajpayee In Satyamev Jayate
Playing the
devil's advocate, I would say that Satyamev Jayate has been unfairly granted an
A certificate. Our kids have been given licenses to see more violent and gory
films than this one. No kiss, no lovemaking, no cuss word and nothing gory,
it's just that 'if you have been a corrupt cop, he will burn you alive'. We are
certainly not endorsing his revenge style, but you certainly know who that 'he'
is.
But first, how is
Bajpayee? Well, he moves strongly with a slightly weak role and suddenly starts
hamming in the climax. Zaveri perhaps realises the guffaw and instead of making
him do it again, moves the camera away from his face in the upward direction!
Bet he had plans of lingering it on Bajpayee's otherwise usual finesse.
John Abraham And Aisha Sharma In Satyamev Jayate
And that 'he',
Abraham? Well, he is fine and Zaveri makes good use of him, playing on his
strengths. You can vividly see that the actor has enjoyed doing this film to
the hilt. He has given it all to firmly say, 'Bas, ab bahut ho gaya'. It's just
the last scene that he botches it when he has to shout a few lines, the
punch sorely missing. And boy, he looks lean! Hadn't he pumped himself a bot
too much in the recent past? FYI, the shirt was not required to go off to prove
that but guess Zaveri (who returns with a middle name 'Milan', was Sanjay B
Jumaani at work?) wanted to play to the gallery till the last frame.
As for Abraham's
Neha Dhupia look-alike romantic interest, I would say 'Aisha Sharma who?' Needs
to drive out and enroll in the nearest acting class, pronto.
Amruta
Khanvilkar, playing Bajpayee's wife, is completely wasted. Is this what one of
the most glowing faces in Bollywood deserves?
A Still From Satyamev Jayate
Zaveri also makes
good use of his pen and a few seetis in the theatres are a given. As for Nooera
Fatehi led Dilbar Dilbar, you can shake your booty to it simply because Alka
Yagnik's melodious voice has been retained.
I am going with
THREE, an extra half for Abraham and Zaveri put together, the former having
made a statement that he is here to stay and the latter having redeemed himself from the sex masti (Grand Masti, Mastizaade) he was indulging
in.