Fast forward from Anna Hazare’s real-life Jan Lokpal Andolan in 2011, and you will find Dwarka Anand (Amitabh Bachchan) replicating a similar movement, under the blanket of Jan Satyagraha on screen. Prakash Jha’s film-making sensibilities constantly thrive on the failure of the political system as a result of corruption, greed and materialism. Time and again, he has proven the notion that the ‘system is rotten’ through impeccable, hard-hitting films like Gangaajal, Raajneeti and Aarakshan. However, it seems that besides becoming repetitive, Jha is also increasingly becoming simplistic in his approach, resulting in a disillusioning storyline. The multi-starrer Satyagraha is a picture-perfect example of a well-intended script portrayed as a sloppy and overly-philosophical sermon.
While Rang De Basanti, Raajneeti and Madras Café deal with bolder subjects, Satyagraha touches upon corruption in the collections department. A son – who is the sole bread earner of the family – is run over by a truck which is reported to be a mere accident. The government offers a generous compensation that is lost amidst a system driven by greed, carelessness and bribery. This triggers the rage of a father, a retired Gandhian school teacher Dwarka Anand, who is forced to go against his non-violent moralistic values, and ends up slapping the collector. What starts off as an old man’s confrontation, ends up becoming a national anti-corruption movement through Dwarka’s son’s ambitious, capitalist friend, Manav Raghvendra (Ajay Devgn), his journalist side-kick Yasmin Ahmed (Kareena Kapoor) and local youth leader Arjun (Arjun Rampal) with its roots in a small town called Ambikapur.
The intentions behind the storyline are sincere, but the director fails to execute them on screen and isn’t able to captivate the audience as a result. In an attempt to send across a bunch of self-righteous messages, the movie falls flat, saying very little to its audience. The characters appear scattered and confused, while the plot is essentially half-baked.
A socio-political movie like this should preferably be made without songs and particularly so in Satyagraha’s case, as the music is pointless. Apart from the catchy Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, everything else appears forced and unintentionally hilarious (read: Janta Rocks, Janta Talks). The movie’s only saving grace are the performances. Manoj Bajpayee stands out as the sleazy politician Balram Singh, who impresses you with his heinous cunningness and makes you laugh with his evil quirkiness. Megastar Bachchan as the virtuous, preachy teacher pulls off this role way better in Aarakshan. Devgn takes the third slot though his transitional role and doesn’t leave much of an impact.
Though borrowed heavily from real-life events, Satyagraha would have fared better if it had an element of fictional surprise instead of just being a ‘too good to be true’ tale of a nation against the government. Having said that, Satyagraha is yet another political film that is, nevertheless different from regular Bollywood rom-coms and aims to send a positive message.
VERDICT: The movie is based on positive intentions but that’s about it. If you enjoy socio-political movies and haven’t seen one in a while, this might be worth a watch. However, if you are looking for some thrills and chills, save your allowance for something better.
Score: 2/5
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2013.
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