Movie Review - Eklavya

Mass meter - **
Class meter - ****



Eklavya - Vidhu Vinod Chopra's return to movie making after sabbatical of 7 years, itself is a good reason to watch this one . I just hope he does not wait for another 7 years to come out with his next :-)

Movie goers today are fed on fast paced , 3 hr+ saga's leading nowher , formula driven , inspired plagiarism or remake's...amidst this comes a movie with an original story idea (Credit - VV Chopra / Abhijit Joshi) !

This is writer / director Vidhu Vinod Chopra's take on the story of Eklavya and he beautifully contemporarizes and adapts the story to depict the dilemma faced by Eklavya. Embellished with fine production values and stellar performance by every member of the cast

Since this movie is not made in popular milieu format, it may not be lapped by the masses but lovers of good cinema will relish this movie. The movie unfolds at its own pace as a good drama or a good novel would.

The movie begins with only the Big B's baritone voice narrating the story of Eklavya to the kids as a refresher to the audience ....Eklavya the one who followed his `Dharm' !

Positives are plenty (not exactly in the order of importance and appearance in the movie)....
*Big B standing tall and giving a yet another royal touch to his role as a royal guard whose duty is to guard the residents of the palace and the secret hidden within the walls of the palace.
*Saif in yet another restrained performance and looking dapper as a real prince would.
*Boman Irani's versatality.
*Sharmila Tagore in a graceful and elegant cameo
*Vidya as the demure rajjo
*Sanju Baba in a role of a corrupt police officer and packing a punch in it.
*Jackie Shroff in a role which only Vidhu can offer him.
*Jimmy Sheirgill (another victim of spelling change, uff!!) as never before seen
*Location as an integral part of the narrative, Magnificient palace and astounding sets by Nitin Desai.
*Sweeping camerawork by maverick S. Natarajan Subramaniam (Parineeta, Black Friday) . Most of the scenes are crane shots, and gives a brialliant perspective to the happenings in and around the palace . Every frame has been meticulously crafted.
*Use of Gayatri Mantra Shlok and moody music as background score by Shantanu Moitra (Apparently the background score was done before the movie was shot, and actually played on the sets for the actors to get the feel of the scene !)
*Action Sequences by Tinnu Verma is edge of the seat stuff.
*The pigeon / ghungroo scene
*The assasination bid sequence amidst the camels and a passing train is awesome.
*Jimmy & Jackie's murder sequence is spellboundingly picturized.
*Detailing done by the director for every character .
*Majestic Costumes by R Rathore
*Narrative style of the director

I may sound as if I am complaining, but i am not - If only the movie was little pacy it could have hit the bulls eye at the box office marquee.