Chakravyuh

Prakash Jha once again picks up the right topic enough to generate excitement in masses but disappoints again (to a lesser extent than Aarakshan and Rajneeti). In terms of plot, the film does highlight one of the greatest challenges, the Indian democracy is facing but gives a half-hearted treatment with superficial explanation on the reason behind Naxalist movements. There were many technical mistakes in story set up. The greatest being recruitment of Abhay Deol in the Naxal group without any strong reason. Extremist groups just don't recruit anybody because the person does not have anything else to do. And while a small time actor gets executed within seconds, Abhay Deol gets all the time in the world to explain himself in "Janta Ki Adaalat" and eventually pardoned for the same crime committed. In terms of acting, Abhay Deol, Om Puri and Manoj Vajpayee lives up to their reputation. Anjali Patil is the discovery of the movie and definitely stands up in the league of stalwarts, at least for this movie. However, Arjun Rampal spoils the party in every scene, making audience feel the need of Ajay Devgan or at least Emraan Hashmi for the role. All in all, the movie is good enough to be watched for someone who wants to get an idea of what the Naxal movement is about. However, the movie fails to send the message it intends to.

CHAKYAVYUH exploits the same plot earlier used by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in his NAMAK HARAAM in the year 1973. In fact Hrishi Da's film was also reportedly based on an Oscar winner classic called BECKET released in 1964. Plus later the idea of placing a mole inside the rival group has been used in so many films that it can rarely excite anyone from both the current as well as the grown up generation. So if you were looking for something fresh and new from Prakash Jha in his latest film then as far as the storyline is concerned, it is not there. But that didn't surprise me since I was more interested in watching his execution on the screen as the trailers had already revealed its main plot openly (which should have been avoided).

Hence with a prepared mindset about its basic predictable script, I was actually hopeful of getting something exceptional from the veteran director dealing with the important issue of Naxal movement in the country. But unfortunately this time Prakash Jha could deliver HIS kind of cinema in only the initial odd 40 minutes in the film and not beyond that. Further it might be a huge disappointment for many to know that these first 40 impressive minutes of the movie are those in which Abhay Deol is not even there in the frame properly.

To bring out its positive points first, CHAKRAVYUH starts off well taking you into a different world of the rebellious movement run by the Naxalites in a specific region of our country. It smartly explains their motives in few scenes and one starts feeling the pumping blood with some well directed action sequences depicting their struggle with the government. But the moment, film comes to its actual story plot of sending a spy in the group of Naxalites, it starts walking on a steep downward slope and becomes totally childish or filmy in its execution unlike a Prakash Jha film.

At regular intervals, the film forces you to think that Is director Prakash Jha also following the same path chosen by Madhur Bhandarkar, of repeatedly making films on a fixed pattern tackling a particular issue of the society and nothing else? The question keeps haunting your mind because the experience of watching CHAKRAVYUH is quite similar to that of seeing the recent HEROINE, wherein the director fails to provide any freshness in his treatment and disappoints hugely. So as its biggest drawback, CHAKRAVYUH can easily be called a film made on the Naxalites, which clearly fails to explain the problem in an appreciable way and in the end just remains a project exploiting the burning issue of the country for its own benefits.

And why it remains only a commercial project ruining an important issue?

1. Because it has a hero who can easily slip into the Naxalites without any trouble, can start flirting with their girl leader, becomes one of the Naxalites front-runners in only a few days and still can comfortably phone or even meet his friend who is a senior Police Officer without any major hassles.

2. It has a lady inspector, who simply asks the doctor to insert a chip inside the wound of an injured Naxalite leader, like kids insert a board-pin into their dolls. In addition, since the inspector is a lady too, she is also made to wear a short revealing dress in a meaningless scene as an essential part of a Bollywood film.

3. It is based on a script wherein, when the traitor is a small time actor then they kill him instantly but when the traitor is the hero himself, then they have all the time in the world to first talk and wait for him to be rescued.

4. But most importantly and ridiculously, it has a friend who without giving any second thoughts easily sends his only long time (well educated) buddy into the Naxalite group to be his informer. And when the 'planted friend' starts betraying him, then he simply calls a reporter to his office, reveals his actual identity to the media along with the visual proofs and makes a clear way for his friend's ultimate end by the Naxalites themselves. Honestly, it was indeed a very cruel and silly way to define friendship on the screen by the veteran director.

Following his set pattern (not really working in CHAKRAVYUH), Jha also has an deliberately added item song here which is equally weak as the other tracks composed by more than one music directors in its soundtrack. Still Cinematography and Background Score give you some bright moments to praise in the film made on a rotten plot.

On the performance front too it is going to disappoint many as the film has nothing what was being expected from the three powerful actors namely Om Puri, Manoj Bajpai and Abhay Deol. The deadly trio, though play their respective parts well with the required intensity and depth. Yet their written roles (and length) are not anywhere close to their own respected reputation, which ideally should have been the highlight of this film as projected. Apart from these key names, Arjun Rampal never rises above his weak character and Esha Gupta doesn't add anything significant to the movie in her given role. But surprisingly Anjali Patil is the one who actually scores the best among the entire star-cast full of card-board characters (except Murli Sharma).

In all, CHAKRAVYUH is a pretty weak (filmy) product from the banner of Prakash Jha, vaguely made around the subject of Naxalite movement in the country. So you can surely watch it if you wish but just for its first 40 minutes and Anjali Patil.

Prakash Jha's 'Chakravyuh' is A Well-Acted & Well-Made Motion-Picture! Based on the issues of Naxalites in Modern-India, this under-rated political-thriller offers thrills & well-paced entertainment in a running time over a 150-minutes.

'Chakravyuh' Synopsis: On the request of his friend Kabir, SP Adil Sends him to the Naxal group as an informer. When Kabir finds the truth he becomes one of their gang leader.

'Chakravyuh' begins & ends well. Any hiccups? The second-hour dips considerably. It does gain momentum in the final 15-minutes, but the portions otherwise of the latter hour are bland. Anjum Rajabali & Sagar Pandya's Writing is strong at most parts, but lacks much conflict & meat in the second-hour. Prakash Jha is a pro at handling political-thrillers with ease & over-here, he delivers a worthy performance as a story-teller. Cinematography, Editing & Music are fair. Action-Sequences are extremely raw.

Performance-Wise: Arjun Rampal is impeccable. The National-Award-Winning Actor sinks his teeth into the part & lives the character with utmost honesty. Abhay Deol is nicely controlled. Manoj Bajpai is, as always, flawless. Bajpai only gets better! Om Puri is significant. Esha Gupta is decent. Anjali Patil is fabulous. Chetan Pandit is in terrific form. Mukesh Tiwari & Murli Sharma are natural to the core. Kabir Bedi is suave in a cameo.

On the whole, 'Chakravyuh' delivers entertainment & a strong message efficiently.

Chakravyuh - 6/10

Chakravyuh is a good attempt by Prakash Jha to give us something like a Gangaajal and Apharan but what he forgets is that this is far more touchy topic for a majority of Indians than topics discussed in Gangaajal and Apharan. A topic such as kidnapping rackets can be accompanied by masala songs and a great looking police woman, but when you discuss topics such as Naxal Movement, Communist Ideology and show your protagonist (Abhay Deol) reading Marxian literature, I'm sorry but you need to be a lot less commercial.

In summary, Chakravyuh is a masala movie (as Arjun Rampal agrees in an interview too). It has item songs, a hot policewoman and random jokes. It is an 'entertainer' - for that I might give it 7/10 - but as far as the real message is concerned - to show what Naxal movement is all about and what is the state of our tribes and also the nexus between government, police and the corporate's - I am sorry but it is a disappointment.

Please watch it for it's entertainment, I wasted my time watching it alone as I was expecting this to be showcasing something that is close to my heart, unfortunately it does not.

In India, Naxalite movement started as a revolt against the system-generated injustices heaped on the tribals in Naxalbari (West Bengal) four and a half decades back and then spread in various parts of our country. Still known by the same name and carrying the same slogan - Laal Salaam, this movement which is violent to the hilt has given birth to a few Bollywood movies. Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh (the lethal trap difficult to break)is in the same league.

Putting it straight, the story of Chakravyuh is not original. It's a lift from the classic movie of Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Namak Haraam (1973) starring two biggest superstars of Hindi cinema - Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan in lead roles. In Namak Haraam, one friend (Rajesh Khanna) infiltrates the workers by posing as one of them for the purpose of helping his industrialist friend (Amitabh Bachchan) and in due course of time, starts sympathizing with them. Here the same story has been given the backdrop of Naxalite movement with Arjun Raampaal being the cop and a part of the system (akin to Amitabh Bachchan in Namak Haraam) and Abhay Deol being his helping friend infiltrating the Naxalites and ultimately switching over to their side (akin to Rajesh Khanna in Namak Haraam). The outcome turns out to be what it had to be - one of these two friends has to die and naturally, it is the one who joins the outlaws.

Since the story is not original, I won't give any credit to the script-writers. However Prakash Jha has directed it very well. After a long long time (since Apharan), I have seen him in full form, presenting an utterly realistic account of the things but in a gripping way without allowing even a second of boredom to the spectator. The complete movie is an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Right from the very beginning to the very end, it keeps the audience engrossed. Just like the stories once written by Salim-Jaaved during the seventies and the early eighties, the story has been presented in such a way that the viewer does not get any chance to think (while the movie is in progress) and keeps on looking at the screen holding his breath. He can think, analyze and assess only during the interval and after the ending.

Prakash Jha has picturized everything in a highly realistic manner with taking minimum number of cinematic liberties. Except the basic story idea, the movie appears nowhere as an imaginary story. The human aspect of the various people involved (on both the sides) and the different facets of the issue have been dealt with finesse and most of the scenes leave their mark on the heart of the viewer. Quite contrary to Red Alert, he has not come out with any solution to the problem but tried to see the things from a much closer point and succeeded. Nobody is correct at every point of time and from every angle of this multi-faceted complex phenomena. From one angle, one is correct and from some other angle, the other is correct. The need of the hour is to have a holistic view of the phenomena and then a proper strategy is to be formulated to break this vicious trap or Chakravyuh. And Prakash Jha has established this fact with the level of proficiency we always expect from him. While referring to the real life incidents, he has adapted the story of Namak Haraam for this movie and presented a taut thriller. A couple of scenes involving Kabir Bedi and his son are the only ones which appeared as somewhat over the top to me, nothing else.

The movie scores very high on the technical front. All the action and thrill sequences are damn impressive. The art director and the cinematographer have worked in harmony and enlivened the milieu of the story on the screen. The editor has also done his job well. Background score is perfect. Music is in line with the mood of the movie. It's not memorable but fits the bill.

Prakash Jha has extracted outstanding performances from his lead as well as supporting characters. Since Arjun Raampaal and Abhay Deol are the two holding pillars of the story (in fact the two opposite poles of a continuum), they were expected to come out with exemplary performances and they have done it. Both deserve a big hand from the audience. All others including Manoj Bajpayee, Anjali Patil, Om Puri, Chetan Pandit, Murali Sharma, Vinay Apte, Kabir Bedi etc. have also done pretty well. Esha Gupta did not get much scope but she does not disappoint.

I consider this movie as a brilliant effort from one of the most realistic and respected directors of India, Prakash Jha who has though not suggested any solution and left it to the audience to think of a practically feasible solution to this ticklish problem continuing for decades in our country, nevertheless presented the complete status of the things in a highly impressive and thought-provoking manner. I hope, the governments of various affected states will watch this movie carefully and pick up some points to deal with the issue in an effective as well as humanistic way. This CHAKRAVYUH is to be broken and Abhimanyu who is the innocent ones, is to be saved. As Prakash Jha has shown that the real problem is the vested interests which are ever ready to swallow everything that is nice, just and desirable; the people who are desirous of curing this canker have to first sideline them from the decision-making processes.

And hats off to Prakash Jha with the whole Chakravyuh team.