Popcorn Reviewss

White thumbnail popcorn reviewss
popcorn reviewss banner
White thumbnail popcorn reviewss

Azaad

Farhad Dalal Founder
By-
Farhad Dalal
Rating
1.5 Star popcorn reviewss

Introduction

The times in Bollywood are dark and gloomy, so much so that the industry is showing signs of desperation. Otherwise, how would you explain the grand launch of a black stallion with a couple of nepo-kids who are seemingly lost and woefully miss the mark with their Bandra-Juhu Bundelkhandi accent? Meet Azaad – the tall and handsome outsider of the industry who was written off during his initial struggling days by producers (disguised as the British in the film), who finally gets his big Bollywood ticket. But he comes with a ‘rider’ – one that he is an alcoholic that would give the character of Aditya Roy Kapur a run for his money in Aashiqui 2 (2013), and the other, a more physical one – his ‘rider’ is Vikram Pratap (Ajay Devgn), a dacoit who boasts himself to be a rebel. The era that the story is set in is the 1920s in British-ruled India where ironically, there is little to no talk about the freedom movement while characters happily playing either their servants or randomly dominating them in a game of shoot-off, a la Squid Game, Western Version. All of it would have worked just fine, if it had been a parody. Sadly, it tries to take itself seriously and woefully fails!

Story & Screenplay

While Azaad the horse hogs most of the limelight in Azaad (this is clearly his film), you are introduced to two new ‘talents’ who would spark the whole nepotism debate in the industry, all over again. Meet Govind (Aaman Devgan), a stable boy who has a fetish for horses, so much so that you see him hijacking even his mother’s stories intended for his sister, by highlighting his fascination for the horses. This is opposite to what the horses feel to begin with – you see him taken for a ride while trespassing their arena, only for the latter to control his ride (he is the protagonist after all). On the other hand, you are introduced to Janki (Rasha Thadani), a superior caste character seen riding on a horse while being glanced at by Govind, on the pretext that he is staring at the horse (you see his fetish?), only for things to be clear that it is Janki who would eventually turn him from being unstable to stable.

Even momentarily, the films does show a little promise as the focus shifts to the origin story of Azaad who is rescued by Vikram. You briefly wish to invest in the heartfelt bond that the duo share, so much so that Azaad seemingly feels that Vikram is his soulmate. Yet, these moments of glory are short-lived even as the writers regig their focus to the track of Govind (he is the protagonist after all), who annoyingly pursues a form of ‘internship’ with Vikram, only because he is fascinated by Azaad and wants to ride him (no puns intended). The writing is so short-sighted that it doesn’t wish to develop its characters with an eye on the bigger picture – India’s freedom struggle restricted to that era, even while blindly indulging in the seemingly forced bond between Govind and Azaad, that has to witness the turn of their fates at the halfway mark with a common and personal loss for both of them.

The proceedings simply get unbearable after the halfway point simply because there is just no tonal consistency in the drama. Picture this – the protagonist reaches the Raj Haweli to impart a bad news to a character who is simply lost in the film, while quietly sneaking into the next room to quickly indulge in a flirting session with Janki. I mean how ridiculous would the writing look if they have had to sexualize a 19 year old in a Holi song out of nowhere, that triggers an enmity for Govind, only for things to make way for love. It is kind of odd also to see Janki forcibly willing to transform Govind from a clown (she calls him a ‘maskhara’) to the owner of the horse (‘Sardar’ as she puts it). And while the one-hour bonding session between Govind and Azaad involves the latter kicking and throwing him off multiple times before warming up to him, it kind of reminded me of the several problematic scenes involving eve-teasing on cinema, only for the female to eventually fall in love with him. Just that the female here is replaced by a horse!

The plot gets even more ridiculous as the writers bring in a ‘Lagaan’ (2001) angle out of nowhere, that almost made me anticipate a ‘Teen Guna Lagaan’ dialogue somewhere. It kind of victimized all the underdog characters for Govind to turn himself into a messiah for his folks, and later indulge in a climax straight out of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992). But because this is the 1920s and bicycles for racing were only discovered on Hindi celluloid in 1992, they are replaced by horses (and at one point, I expected someone to say ‘Sabse Aage Ladke Kaun, Rajput..Rajput’). And so, our Azaad also gets to become a hero at the end of the day. I almost chuckled to a point of no return that made my fellow film critic (sitting beside me and also chuckling) politely ask me the reason for the reason. We both knew the reason and well, that accurately summed up the screenplay for me.

Dialogues, Music & Direction

The dialogues are laced with the Bandra-Juhu Bundelkhandi accent that made me curious on which part of India is the drama staged. There is some solid dialogue-baazi that seemed to be extracted from the DNA of another film, while the drama here failed to leave an impact. The music and the BGM is actually good and it tries to elevate the drama by either transporting you to the era or at the very least making you somewhat invested in a couple of the scenes. The cinematography is pretty solid too comprising of frames that capture the portions of the horse really well, even with wide-angle shots that scale-up the film in a good way. The editing though is patchy and never quite accounts for a tonal consistency that makes you distance from the drama. Director Abhishek Kapoor is not the same variant of himself that had once directed the incredible Rock On (2007). The direction is pretty weak to the point that I felt nothing while skimming through the so-called emotional scenes. The gimmicks with respect to the horse didn’t sit well with me too, a clear case of the director looking to over-try. If a simple story like Charlie 777 made me weep for hours after the film, the reason wasn’t because Charlie had peculiar traits of a human. The gimmicks here further distanced myself from the drama to a point of no return, wherein I didn’t give two hoots of the horse crying and rubbing his neck after a point. The direction is woefully off here to the point of no redemption.

Performances

The performances are woefully off here much like the film. A couple of British character are utterly reduced to a caricature. Ajay Devgn does a good job here but his screen time is short-lived. Piyush Mishra looked disinterested here and seemed to be a party to this mess just to pay his bills. Mohit Mallik is shown to be this evil bad guy who never really comes to the party for the entire duration of the film. Diana Penty (weird casting choice) as Kesar has literally nothing to do in the film apart from weeping and sulking. I feel bad for Rasha Thadani because she is still very young but absolutely raw while never seemingly being a seamless addition to this universe. Her accent is way off and you could see that she was visibly uncomfortable while having to mouth lines in Bundelkhandi. And sexualizing a 19 year old in a song was just not done! Aaman Devgan is marginally better but still uncertain on where to draw the line. His outfit and hairstyle resembles a certain Mr Amitabh Bachchan from the 70s, but he is far too loose with the expressions wherein he comes across as more annoying than charming. Both newbies have a long way to go if they have any chance of finding love with the viewers and I sincerely hope that they polish their skills further before their next respective ventures.

Conclusion

Azaad is a drama suffering from the ‘Tik Tik Horsie’ syndrome that is unintentionally funny while missing the mark by a country mile. Horsing around in a theatre near you.

Latest Posts

error: Content is protected !!