Reviewed: Wazir (Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar)
Wazir is a movie that does not fit into the current trend of Bollywood movie making; which is ‘make the movie so visually awesome that no one will care what is written in it. Wazir is a very well written action thriller, which has been presented in such a manner that the visuals supplement the writing and do not overpower it; kudos to Abijat Joshi, Vikram Chandra and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
The makers of this movie have played with the audience just like a lion plays with his prey before it finishes the game. Just when you start getting a feeling that the movie is going slow and turning into a mushy and cheesy romantic film, there are such well placed turn of events that the change in pace of the scenes will also change the pace of your heart.
The dialogues and the screenwriting enhance the story in such a wonderful manner that no matter how tempted critics are to disintegrate and analyse the movie in parts, they will end up watching it as a whole.
The editor, of course along with the director, has done a fantastic job. His work is so good that it seems that both pre-production and post-production processes took place at the same time. The film was shot in many different parts, as was the necessity of the writing, but that made the job of the director quite challenging; and yet Bejoy Nambiar has completed the challenge with excellent perfection. He seems to have a very clear vision about the end product and hence, he has put the pieces together so well that he has made the movie into such an intriguing puzzle, that the viewers will keep trying to solve it till the very end.
One does not qualify to comment on the acting skills of Amitabh Bachchan, so I will just add that every student of acting will learn a lot from this movie. Farhan Akhtar on the other hand, seemed a little repetitive at some points in the movie when actually he has a great scope to try something new. After ‘Rock On’ and ‘ZNMD’, I personally expected something vey different in this movie due to its distinct mood and setting. Aditi Rao Hydari, though had very few, short glimpses to show her acting skills has done a considerable job. Her focus (the thing actors do with their eyes) in a sad scene was quite commendable. Neil Nitin Mukesh tried out a new role, which though was certainly a welcome experiment, felt like loud acting. Next time try and underplay maybe Neil. You kind of overdid your act, which forced Amitabh Bachchan to go out of his comfort zone and match your work. John Abraham had a very small part to play, but it was quite an important part, which he carried off pretty well.
Background music created the right mood at the right place thus assisting the viewer’s brain to easily get acclimatised with the varied and ever changing pace of the movie. Songs are so perfectly placed that they do not seem to be forced in the movie just for the sake of it. Instead they have become a part of the movie without which the scenes would seem to lack an essential ingredient. ‘Khel Khel Me’ in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice and the title score ‘Atrangi Yaari’ in Amitabh Bacchan and Farhan Akhtar’s voice were really an interesting addition of two of the the most sought after voices in Bollywood.
All in all the movie is a three and a half to four star action thriller which I suggest you should watch at least once, especially for the most fascinating way in which the movie concludes.
-Neeraj K.