Critics Rating: 2*
Marathi Cinema is gearing up by releasing a couple of movies in 2015 and Nagrik is one of them, which has hit this Friday (12th June 2015). It is a political drama, directed by Jaypraad Desai, while is produced under the banner of Sacchi Entertainment. The story comes from Mahesh Keluskar and Jaypraad Desai and lead cast in the film include Sachin Khedekar, Devika Daftardar, Milind Soman, Rajesh Sharma, Dr Shriram Lagoo and Dilip Prabhavalkar. The music comes from Tubby-Parik and Sambhaji Bhagat. The earlier posters and teaser of the film has garnered a good response from the Marathi audience, now, let’s take a plunge in it to get the crux of Nagrik as under:
The Plot
The movie revolves the life of a fearless, honest and idealistic newspaper journalist called Shyam Jagdale played by Sachin Khedekar. He takes care of the crime beat, very much known for unveiling and exposing the corrupt practices found in society. Meet Vikas Patil played by Milind Soman who is a highly corrupt and rude politician. Shyam finds out a story how the minister is playing games to embark with a communal riot for getting political mileage from this heinous conspiracy. However, the man sitting at the editor’s chair denies publishing the report considering the huge amount of ad revenue he gets from the corrupt minister. This gives Patil another opportunity to manipulate things and implement his heinous plans to make things bad to worse for his own interest, while Shyam remains a mute spectator to this. Thanks to his selfish editor who is more interested to run his business of news accepting revenue from corrupt politicians like Patil rather than bringing out the truth before the readers. Shayam on the other side finds things at his personal level haywire. So, how things between them settle down is an important question to follow.
Script, Star Performance and Technicalities
The subject of an honest and fearless man who is keen to bring out the truth of corrupt system isn’t a new concept. A number of movies have been made on this subject; hence innovation is the key, when it comes to making any film with this as its central theme. The teaser released earlier showcases a hard-hitting and impressive socio-political drama, which puts forth great expectations for the film. However, once we catch, the audience would be dejected to catch up a film, which is made on ordinary lines making a mess of issues in it. You hardly find the film following any usual story line rather it showcases the murky and filthy world of corrupt practices found in the politics of Mumbai and state being championed by the minister Patil.
The skilled director and writer though are able to grip the audience for long with few intense sequences but it’s a small time affair. In a sense, soon the film sucks the audience in the intense sequence with no-where to go. Soon the high end visuals and VFX effects in the film sound too superficial hampering the flow of the film and thus confusing the audience at large. At times, you may find Nagrik following the trend of showcasing many things by going mute and slow, however, this seems to be a seldom affair. The non verbal sequences are there in the second half, which tries to portray the ironies of the city – Mumbai, which can be called as a good trend to follow but again can confuse the audience a bit.
The movie though starts with a good note, however, as it progresses, it loses its gleam giving the audience too many loo breaks. However, you are likely to get the kick at the climax provided you are very much involved in the film. Since the audience is likely to lose the grip of the film as it goes roller coaster therefore enjoying a perfect climate with its true meaning becomes mission impossible. The screenplay at many times seems dropping, which can give an impression that people are watching two different films. Talking about the performances, the actors in the lead roles like Sachin Khedekar and Milid Soman occupies too much of screen space, which further hampers the sequences wherein we find veteran actors like Dr. Sri Ram Lagu and Sulabha Deshpande with limited and confusing sequences. The two are seen good yet far behind in competing the veterans in the film. In a sense, the director has failed to utilize the true potentials of these veterans in Nagrik. Unlike the other elements, music of the film too suffers, which further degrades the quality of the film to some extent. However, you can enjoy good cinematography though with failed screenplay and haphazard climax.
Nagrik – Final Word
The overall picture seems rosy for Nagrik considering a hard-hitting socio-political drama though, but flaws like improper movie flow, certain factual errors and subject dealt in monotonous fashion wrecks havoc. The film has certain good performances thanks to veterans like Shri Ram Lagoo, it has failed to overshadow too many flaws found within the film. Ironically a senior journalist in the film failing to understand the random politics in the film is surprising, which further make things bad to worse for Nagrik. The subject gives good amount of opportunities to make a flawless film, however, the filmmaker failed to touch the yardstick, which makes any film a perfect one.
Rating – 2*/5*
