So near and yet so far

Mounted on a large scale this male bonding tale which is all about the old love triangle with the curiosity around the question as to who is likely to get the lady- if at all. The film invests much, too much in the physicality and that is where the film is: survival or rejection. It is obvious that filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar has chosen a cast that is known for looks.

The two actors have prematurely arrived at the script. Not that they are wanting in sincerity. Brawl, sincerity and well- toned physiques, not to mention savvy marketing do not make up for 153 of absorbing cinema. There goes the plot.Built around the problem of refugees, we have two juvenile delinquents crossing the barbed fence into India. With hope in their eyes and attitude in their system, the two boys get caught in vortex of societal and circumstantial crime; the lads grow into men and still keep their constant tryst with crime and no punishment. Naïve with affairs of the heart, they have an instinct for crime and soon become the Coal Kings and the mafia that rules Calcutta. A new Sherwood Forest is in the making of the city after the birth of Bangladesh. Bikram (Ranveer) and Bala (Arjun) are the two new macho boys of Bollywood caught up in the black black world of coal and crime. All is good going including that they get forged identity papers through Kaka ( Saurabh Shukla) till cupid in very filmy ishtyle enters the picture in the form of Nandita (Priyanka chopra). After all like Victor Hugo would want us to believe: “Do you hear the people singLost in the valley of the night?It is the music of a peopleWho are climbing to the light?For the wretched of the earthThere is a flame that never dies.Even the darkest night will endAnd the sun will rise.”

Even as the two are in winsome romance with the lady who has just whiffed past, there is also the fly in the ointment in the form of Inspector Satyajeet Sarcar (Irrfan Khan). The Tom and Jerry fight begins. Also romance cracks the hitherto bonding that had stood the test and viles of Time. With both the gym perfect body guys proposing love to the cabaret artist Nandita, the naïve are curious as to who she would say yes to, and how the other would take the rejection. Some are also curious as to how the chor police game would end and the bravado of the protagonist on the wrong side of law end.

Where the film works: The filmmaker and the main cast – Ranveer and Arjun-- display a high level of sincerity. The clichéd script not withstanding there is a degree of drama in the air. The boys and the filmmaker do enhance the scale of the film. Cinematographer Aseem Mishra brings life to Khottadih Colliery area, Durgapur subdivision of Eastern Coalfields Limited. However, he could have avoided the Hooghly and the Howrah Bridge in the back drop ever so often.

Why things don’t work: This is not the time of Raj Kapoor or even Manmohan Desai. The average attention span is challenged with a narration that lasts a whole 153 minutes. A good half hour canned with passion but chopped to precision would have worked wonders. Also the support system to the film is lack lustre. While Irrfan the actor is his usual confident self, the role is used as an excuse. You are also deprived of strong dramatic moments or clashes between the wrong doers and the police. They seem to be at best participating at a debate – not even the fervour our modern day politicians bring to Parliament—pepper spray and all!! Priyanka dolls herself to irritation. You need to be a diehard fan of the actress to restrain from being critical. I rather die than be diehard fan- If ignorance hurts than she has just earned it in good measure.

The guys- Ranveer and Arjun (the former more flamboyant and the latter restrained) try their level best, albeit a trifle too early in their career. No do not expect an Amit – Shatru clash as in ‘Kala Pathar.’ The production house may be the same, but times and the approach have changed. Now the stunt master has taken over the script and dialogue writer. The film is Bollywood’s style of reiterating what Nelson Mandela said: “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”