My Movies: Chakravyuh

Strong theme but too much of commercialization

Director Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh is yet another issue based political thriller. Chakravyuh deals with issue of Naxalites in various states of India. Firstly, Kudos to Jha for even daring to take up an issue which had the potential of hurting the sentiments of either side of the issue. Jha struggles but succeeds to display the pros and cons of both sides- The police and The Naxalites.

Adil (Arjun Rampal) is an efficient police officer who takes up the job of dealing with Naxalite infected area of Nandighat. Soon his best friend Kabir (Abhay Deol) offers him help by infiltrating the Naxalite group and taking down Rajan (Manoj Bajpai) who is an influential Naxalite leader. Will Kabir be successful enough is the question.

What is really new about this Jha venture is the well executed Naxalites Vs Police firing sequences. Controlling a huge crowd is a difficult task and its efficient execution shows that Jha has total command on his set. However, apart from the firing sequences Jha offers the similar sets, locations, dialogues, characters and actors. It is time Jha reinvents his direction skills by adding something really new to his work.

Jha has a grip over his story and knows exactly what he needs to convey, however the screenplay is typical and dragged. Although the story seems engaging the extended unnecessary scenes add to the duration and cause impatience among the audience. The biggest disappointment of Chakravyuh lies in its director’s falling prey to the so called commercial appeal. In an era of Indian cinema where mature filmmaking is a key to entertainment, Jha prefers to show some really unnecessary songs, one of them being a pure item number by Sameera Reddy. Having songs and more specifically item songs is fine, but does a Chakravyuh really need it? Besides, Jha’s story telling is still like the 80s method of spoon feeding the audience with every detail, again, is it really necessary?

Music is below average and the item number can hardly attract any eye balls (since its presence is only for those eye balls). Cinematography is functional and so is the editing. Being so used to the strong stern Ajay Devgan performances in all Jha films, Arjun Rampal as a capable police officer looks dull. He tries his hardest but his performance falls out in a lot of scenes. Here’s one actor who is expected to give more than he can. Abhay Deol as the short tempered Kabir looks average in the first half but nails the second. Esha Gupta as Adil’s wife has limited work to do and does a below average job. Manoj Bajpai can never be a disappointment when it comes to an abusive, violent dacoit (a Naxalite in this case). Surprisingly he has a smaller role to play in the film, but he shines through what he gets to do. Eventually the one actor who shines is Anjali Patil as Juhi, a female Naxalit leader. From being an abusive, violent, earthy naxalite to a vulnerable girl, she gets it all right.

I am going with 2.5 out of 5 for Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh. Chakarvyuh minus the songs and dragged scenes would have been a 3.5 on 5.