Monday, February 19, 2007

"Eklavya - The Royal Guard " - Movie Review - Do watch it for actor's Performances....

Movie - Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Producer/Director - Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Music Director - Shantanu Moetra
Actor - Amitabh Bachan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Sheirgil, Boman Irani, Vidya Balan, Sharmila Tagore, Jackie Shroff, Parikshit Sahni.
Date of Release - 16th February 2007

So another movie, with a host of stars ranging from the Big B, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan , Vidya Balan , Boman Irani etc... but do they actually deliver ? to some extent yes.
In short Eklavya is a story about a Royal family taking the background of Rajasthan and talks about the various aspects of jealousy, betrayal , conspiracy etc. This movie to some extent be branded as a thriller but in the end, its filled with emotions (Luckily this movie is not flooded with many songs, but only a single song that lasted for 2 minutes).
Filmed in a total of 105 minutes Eklavya is a brave attempt at breaking the traditional formula of Hindi films movie making. The cinematography against the Rajasthani background is breathtaking. The movie actually takes you into a Rajasthani palace and after some time you start feeling a part of it. The background music is good but the main aspect which holds the attention of the viewers all the time are the splendid performance of the various actors. It seems that Vidhu Vinod Chopra has developed a knack for extracting the best out of its actors. Amitabh Bachan is good in the title Role "Eklavya" where he gives up almost everything to guard the Royal Palaces. Boman Irani as the king is good but we have seen better performance from him. Saif Ali Khan is definitely the highlight of the movie, as the heir to the palace carrying on his role with complete chutzpah. In the end Sanjay Dutt though has a small role in the movie but does pull it out to perfection.
Some of the scenes in the movie also have a lasting effect on the viewer to name a few - the scene of Amitabh Bachan aiming at the pigeon is one of the best Hindi movie scene I have seen for a long time. In addition just before the interval Amitabh's attempt to save the "Rana" from attack is also worth a watch.
Another good concept in the movie is challenging the act of Eklavya (i.e. cutting his right thumb as Guru Dakshina for Dronocharya). Instead the movie emphasised the fact that "whatever your heart and mind feels is right should be your religion" which I feel is quite relevant in the current times.
So where does the movie fail ? In spite of being a short movie the first half drags at time. Also after watching the movie though I enjoyed it but felt a little something missing in terms of punch and power. But all in all it's a very brave attempt by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and is definitely worth a watch.
Rating 3.5 / 5

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Vik
superb review.................

GK