Chakravyuh - A War You Cannot Escape but A Film You Can Escape.

Prakash Jha, after his last bombarded venture Aarakshan (Reservation) again tries to depict a major problem of our nation in the Mahabharat-style. It is the Battle of Kurukshetra where Pandavas (the naxalites) are fighting with their own cousins, the Kauravas (the government) and just like Arjuna's brave son Abhimanyu gets stuck into a Chakravyuh formed by Drona, the leader of Kauravas. Chakravyuh is a film highlighting the issues of 'Naxalites' which is one of the major problems that India is facing today.

Adil Khan (Arjun Rampal) is the SP of Bhopal who is transferred to Nandighat ("gram"), the centre of Naxal influence to take hold of the situation. He is depicted as the Kauravas' leader who tries to destroy the Pandavas. Kabir (Abhay Deol), Adil's long-lost and only friend comes back and suggests to join the "naxal-army" and provide clues to the police who is unable to locate the naxal-leaders. Kabir joins the naxals and get to know their problems and sympathise with them. When the naxal commander-in-chief Rajan (Manoj Bajpayee) is arrested, Kabir realises that the naxals are fighting for their right and becomes their leader. He is shown as Abhimanyu who is stuck in a Chakravyuh and could not come back. The rest is the face-off between Adil and Kabir, both are diligent in doing what they think is right.

Prakash Jha used this Mahabharat symbolism in Raajneeti too where he succeeded and the film got huge appreciation. There isn't an iota of doubt that Jha is the best in his type of game and no one could even touch that level in the political-thriller genre. He mesmerises you with his uncanny style of filmmaking which is very much appreciable. The problem with the film lies in its writing, an uninteresting screenplay, an obvious flashback and a set of cliched dialogues looks terrible in a film with such a powerful subject. The music of the film is below average and so is the loud emotionless background score. The editing could be a bit crisper so as to engage the audience till the end. Arjun Rampal does justice to his role and looks cool (and sometimes gives rather cold expressions), Abhay Deol is natural as always and outshines, Manoj Bajpayee needs no words of appreciation but his role is undefined, Esha Gupta is average, Anjali Patil shows her acting talent (or the gold medal from NSD) and gives a brilliant performance, Om Puri is good in his short role so is Kabir Bedi and S.M. Zaheer.

When a general (not reserved) person among the audience enters the theatre to watch a Prakash Jha-film, the expectations are Damul, Mrityudand, Gangaajal, Apaharan and Raajneeti. Chakravyuh is not a great film like Jha's previous ventures, it's just a decent attempt and a neutral view of the naxalite problem in India (though the friendship angle is just not suitable for explaining this kind of cinema, but yes an angle is necessary so why not this). Chakravyuh, as a Prakash Jha-film disappoints.           

Students of this Year !

Karan Johar is back with his directorial cap for his 5th film as a director. Karan's last films KKHH, K3G, KANK and MNIK proved to be blockbusters (barring KANK) with his trademark "K" and "SRK" factor. This time he jumps out of all his superstitions and his father's wordings - "Whenever you make a film, be sure that SRK is there in it", and directs a bunch of youngsters, newcomers, celeb-kids and his own assistants in a film titled SOTY (Student of the Year) . . . Why not title it as "Person of the Year" (POTY) as the end results would suit the abbreviated title pretty well ! This youth-romcom stars Siddharth Malhotra (Karan's assistant in MNIK), Varun Dhawan (David Dhawan's son and again Karan's assistant in MNIK) and 19-years old Alia Bhatt (Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan's daughter).

Rohan Nanda (Varun Dhawan) is the son of a business tycoon and has a complex relationship with his father, Ashok Nanda (Ram Kapoor). Rohan's only hope is to win the "Student of the Year" (SOTY) trophy, a competition which his college conducts every year, to prove himself to his father. Abhimanyu Singh (Siddharth Malhotra) comes from a middle-class family and wants to achieve great heights in his life and winning the "SOTY" trophy would be his stepping stone. The two comes face to face in every competition and instantly becomes the rivals and the most powerful contenders of the trophy. As both of them has a soft-side their ego-rivalry unexpectedly turns into a great bond of friendship when they discovered the similarities between their lives and start sharing their hearts. Shanaya Singhania (Alia Bhatt), the most famous girl of college is the childhood sweetheart of Rohan but they don;t love each other. Abhimanyu gets attracted towards Shanaya and her reciprocation causes a rift between Abhimanyu and Rohan and they again become rivals of each other. Now the main focus is on the SOTY trophy and the rivals' face off in every competition to prove themselves best. Who will be the "Student of the Year" is the part you'll be thrilled about.

After MNIK, the cliched expectations were a notch higher from Karan Johar. SOTY would easily be a disappointment for KJo's fans. When you watch the promos, you'll be assured to be served the romance like KKHH complimented by the school-life competition just like "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar" (trademarks). SOTY looks like a film made by one of the assistants of KJo and lacks that intensity which you expect in a KJo film. The direction is good, the screenplay is kept air-tight but the script lacks the potential and the indigestible climax down-slides the film. An imaginary college where a cool professor teaches "love", where curriculum is not important, where homo-sexuality is very common, where everything you imagined about your college rests is a Karan Johar style but this one looks more of a FANTASY film.

The newcomers looks as newcomers and performs averagely good. There's one man you're going to love the most is Rishi Kapoor as Dean Yoginder Vashisht (a gay-dean). A never-seen-before act and Rishi Kapoor is flawless with his performance. All the other actors except the main lead are worth praising, be it Kayoze Irani, the fat guy (Boman Irani's son), Manjot Singh, Ram Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Farida Jalal, Sanyam.

The music suits the fantasy-environment of the film and Vishal-Shekhar have done a fabulous job. "Radha", "Disco Deewane", "Ishq Wala Love" are topping the charts. The film's quite well in technicalities.
It has collected 27 crores in its first weekend. The film is going well with the youth as was targeted. Watch only if you want to relax and relive the memories of your school-life, else it is avoidable.