More so for
Abhishek Bachchan since he and the promos looked very promising. I was expecting nothing short of another landmark movie.
Though the plot and Abhishek's performance were great, the rest did not live up to my expectations.
To be honest, the director did not know what he was making. How come none of the unit members, the people involved or even Abhishek did not realise the movie was going nowhere?
* The movie had no direction. No one was aware what the movie was about. Was it about a village getting electricity and its related changes? Was it about the Thakur vs the low caste people? Was it the love story between Abhishek and Lara Dutta? None of the above seemed convincing.
* Chunky Pandey's role was disgusting. Forget the humour, it evoked a sense of vulgarity. Same was the case with Raageshwari. No one understood the purpose of her role.
* The villagers watching a kissing scene between Karisma Kapoor and Aamir Khan in Raja Hindustani on television. The audience knows Karisma was Abhishek's girlfriend in real life. That scene defied logic. Why show things that are gross?
* The Abhishek-Lara love story
made no sense at all. No emotions. No reasons.
* For almost two hours, the hero does nothing but move around with his friends in the village. The story does not move for the first two hours.
* The hero's friend's role (played by Aditya Lakhia) could have been played by a much better character actor. Also, the other characters could have been well-defined.
And now the merits:
* Abhishek Bachchan's intense performance. He is a powerhouse of talent, but has no one to tap it. How unfortunate is that? Here is one actor who has amazing talent but ends up in stupid movies. One of the few actors whose eyes speak!
* The last half-hour of the movie is amazing and keeps you glued. Wish the movie was the same all throughout.
* Good music (Anu Malik). It has a very earthy feel and is catchy.
* The locales and the cinematography (Gururaj).
* A great script idea. Something novel, though it went wrong. It could have been made into a much better movie.
I guess the director has potential but needs to learn on how to maintain the flow of a movie. I am sure he will come up with some good movies.