Tag: Nana Patekar

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Vanvaas : Nana Patekar and Utkarsh Sharma keep this overt melodrama afloat

This Anil Sharma directorial has a strong core but too much of melodrama coupled with one note characters make it a test of patience.

Vanvaas (Hindi); 20-12-2024, Drama, 2 hours 40 minutes, U/A, Theatre

  • Main Cast: Nana Patekar, Utkarsh Sharma, Khushboo, Rajpal Yadav, and Simrat Kaur
  • Director: Anil Sharma
  • Producer: Anil Sharma and Suman Sharma
  • Music Director: Mithoon
  • Cinematography: Kabir Lal
  • Rating: 2.5/5

Portraying children as irremediable villains is one of the big pet themes that Indian directors have explored time and again. In this kind of cinema, the offspring and the daughter-in-law are often portrayed as insensitive and used as a medium for how children shouldn’t be. Ravi Chopra’s Baghban (2003) is an excellent example of this kind of story.

The movie had a very simplistic storyline riding mostly on the wonderful chemistry and the performances of Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. Among the older Hindi movies, the late Rajesh Khanna’s Avtaar co-starring Shabhana Azmi is also an extremely popular film perfectly fitting in the Baghbhan category.

Now you have Anil Sharma’s Vanvaas taking this troupe to a whole new level.

Synopsis

Utkarsh Sharma in Vanvaas
Utkarsh Sharma in ‘Vanvaas’. (X)

The story of Vanvaas follows the emotional turmoil of Nana Patekar’s Deepak Tyagi. A retired man living with his three sons and daughters-in-law. He often reminisces about his dead wife Vimla Tyagi (a graceful Khushboo).

Deepak is in the early stages of dementia, apart from dementia he also has a nature of trying to correct everything. His idealistic nature frustrates the family to no end. The children along with the daughters-in-law devise a plan of abandoning him.

On the pretext of celebrating his birthday in Varanasi, they decide to abandon him at an old age home. However things don’t go according to plan, instead the family leaves him in the Ghats and paints a picture of him dying.

Deepak has zero memory of where he lives, at this stage, his path crosses with that of a small-time crook Veeru (Utkarsh Sharma). They form an unlikely bond bringing a huge change in Veeru.

On the shoulders of Nana Patekar

Nana Patekar in Vanvaas
Nana Patekar in ‘Vanvaas’. (X)

It goes without saying that Nana Patekar, along with Utkarsh Sharma, majorly keeps the film afloat. Nana Patekar is a seasoned actor who doesn’t need a particular introduction; here, too, he delivers a commanding performance.

He makes the viewers feel the pain by bringing in a lot of emotional depth. A particular mention must be made of the scenes where the character grapples with dementia, unable to remember anything. He somehow makes the melodramatic lines work with his conviction.

Utkarsh Sharma shows significant improvement compared to his performances in Genius (2018) and Gadar 2 (2023). Although his Banarasi accent is inconsistent, he still does a fine job showcasing the different nuances, whether it’s the early portrayal of a small-time crook or the gradual transformation.

His chemistry with Nana Patekar is spot on, whether it’s the drunken conversation or the intense scenes where Veeru feels he’s had enough of Deepak’s tantrums.

Among the supporting actors, Rajpal Yadav as a fellow crook makes the maximum impact. His camaraderie with Utkarsh is a delight to watch.

The music by Mithoon is for the most part soulful perfectly aligning with the movie’s tone. Among the songs, “Yadoon Ke Jharokhon” Se makes a big impact. The cinematography of Kabir Lal is also of a high standard.

Flaws

The biggest flaw of Vanvaas is the overt melodrama. In many places, the dramatic scenes come across as overstretched. Also, the characterizations of the sons and in-laws are too caricaturist, none of them come across as flesh and blood human beings.

Similarly, the love story between Utkarsh and Simrat Kaur has been severely undercooked. In fact, Nana Patekar and Khusboo in their limited scenes together share much better chemistry than the young leads.

Final take

Overall Vanvaas is strictly for die-hard Nana Patekar fans and those who enjoy this kind of melodrama.

(Views expressed here are personal, edited by Sumavarsha)

https://thesouthfirst.com/entertainment/vanvaas-movie-review/

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The Vaccine War: Vivek Agnihotri’s Directorial Is Not As Good As The Title

A big problem with ‘The Vaccine War’ is the extreme heavy-handedness with which Vivek Agnihotri narrates his story.

Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files was one of the biggest hits of 2022. The movie was a surprise hit as not much was expected from it.

And now, the director is back with another heavy subject. This time, the results are not so satisfactory.

The Vaccine War is about a group of determined scientists who face many challenges while making a vaccine when the entire world including India was crippled by the Coronavirus in 2020.

Synopsis

Nana Patekar plays Bhargava, the chief scientist, in the film. He is both eccentric and a workaholic.

At times, Bhargava also comes across as stone-hearted, but he enjoys certain respect from his team.

His army consists of mostly women. These include Priya Abraham (Pallavi Joshi), Nivedita Gupta (Girija Oak), and Dr Pragya Yadav (Nivedita Bhattacharya).

It is a treat to watch these women handling multiple roles, professionally and personally.

The main villain of this tale is a science journalist Rohini Singh Dhulia (Raima Sen). Her character is shown running a smear campaign against the government, with particular vehemence. She writes long articles that undermine the noble efforts of the scientists.

On the surface, The Vaccine War reminds us of Mission Mangal (2019). There too, you had a group of women scientists headed by Vidya Balan. However, the treatment of both the films is quite different.

Pluses and minuses

A big problem with The Vaccine War is the extreme heavy-handedness with which director Vivek Agnihotri narrates the story.

There is a lot of high-sounding terminology that the director uses, and this ends up boring the audience.

To give credit where it is due, Vivek is successful in staging some good emotional moments. Most of these moments are concerning the characters played by Pallavi Joshi and Girija Oak. Viewers feel genuine empathy towards them.

The struggles of the women scientists in balancing their professional and personal duties are shown well by the director.

He also gives some nice emotional touches to the character of Nana Patekar. The duo makes sure that Bhargava doesn’t come across as a caricature.

Another big problem with The Vaccine War is the characterisation of journalist Rohini Singh Dhulia. This is not the first film which is guilty of portraying the media in a negative light.

Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju (2018) also made the media a big scapegoat for Sanjay Dutt’s bad image, but the director balanced the negative portrayal of the media with other elements.

Nevertheless, in The Vaccine War, not only does Rohini Singh occupy much more space than needed, but also has a constant smirk on her face which is irritating to watch. There is no second layer either in her characterisation or performance.

Final take

To sum it up, The Vaccine War is a long-drawn showcase of the government’s “achievements”.

(Views expressed here are personal.)