Dirty it is!

One part of the title is accurate. There are two major issues with the film. A cast oozing with talent and repute is called upon to do the inane and yet again mainstream cinema consciously or otherwise suggests that taking law into ones hands is the only route to Nirvana. You also know that when the mainstay of a film is Mallika Sherawat than you are in for a film lacking in style and trying desperately to make up with overt references to sex.

No this is not even for the voyeurist. It is indeed sad that an assemble of great actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Atul Kulkarni and Om Puri are all called upon to play second fiddle to the actress and they are willing to do so. In fact the question as to why they do it is the only curious factor that holds the film. It is perhaps a part of the dirty politics of our commerce and cinema that such actors are willing to play along and do a film like this. K C Bokadia gives you over two hours of such unadulterated nonsense with a seemingly euphemistic stance of exposing dirty politics. He ends up exposing more than exposing politics dirty or otherwise.

Anokhi Devi (Mallika Sherawat) is a local dancer who is called upon to make sexual compromises to keep body and soul together to even retain her legitimate roof or get Mamma to hospital. You would have thought that this would have made her a misandrist. That is not to be.On the other hand she shares a symbiotic faked love affair with ageing Dinanath (Om Puri) the local political chief. He promises her the moon but is compelled to dish out the party ticket to local goon Mukhtiyar (Jackie Shroff).

Dinanath proceeds with his love affair defying the advice of his well wisher colleague Dayal (Ashutosh Rana). Anokhi Devi disappears and the political climate gets hot. The needle of suspicion is obviously Dinanath and Mukhtiyaar. The CBI steps in to investigate. We have Satya Prakash Mishra (Anupam Kher) whose last task is to investigate the matter before he retires. Manoj (Naseeruddin Shah) is the voice of the people trying to expose the corrupt practices and how Anokhi Devi has disappeared. Finally when nothing works and even the judicial system falls a prey to the evils of society, the protagonist takes law into his own hands and leaves the message that the system is beyond redemption and only those who are willing to take the law into their own hands and muster enough brawl, can survive.

Mallika Sherawat simply does not have the wherewithal to carry out the role. It is pathetic seeing her going through the motions of a role of fury of a woman wronged. She seems to believe that she is only required to look coquettish and seductive at all points of time. Never has there been a case of miscasting an actress in a central role (since Zeenat Aman in Satyam Shivam Sundaram) and the entire effort assuming it was well intentioned falls flat. Naseeruddin Shah is partly serious but simply cannot undo the lifeless and pretentious script. It is only Anupam Kher who manages a degree of credibility in this seeming mental asylum of a script. Even a clash of New Zealand vs Afghanistan cricket match could be more interesting. The statutory documentary against smoking seems creative in compare.

Film Name : Dirty Politics

Cast : Mallika Sherwat, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher

Direction : KC Bokadia

Genre : Drama

Likes : Anupam Kher

Dislikes : The very idea

By L Ravichander