6/10 - Coming back after seeing this biopic of the larger-than-life Marathi politician, I am quite disappointed at how they have not done justice to this movie.
Acting: First of all, Nawazuddin is the only major role in this film and others remain bystanders throughout the movie. Nawaz is probably one of the better actors in today's era and he proves it with another great performance. However, he seems uncomfortable with Marathi and falls short at the fiery roar that Balasaheb possessed. For example, when I saw Sanju, I didn't realize that it was not Sanjay Dutt acting. Such actor-character sync was missing.
Yet, he was perhaps the best choice for this complex role (but would've preferred Nana Patekar or Manoj Bajpai if they were younger). Amrita Rao, while being the other major character, is non-existent and missable.
Screenplay: The story, while doing a good job of taking us through Thackeray's life, did feel over the top at times (Remember that this movie was produced by Sanjay Raut, who is a part of the Shiv Sena so it excessively glorifies the character). I also hated the fact that the first half is in black&white. I mean, what's the point?
However, it was really interesting to see some politically-unrelated moments of Balasaheb's life that I wasn't aware of. Some dialogues are pearls.
Direction: This was the biggest let down for me. Abhijit Panse, who had previously made his debut with Rege (2014) - an absolute gem of a movie - seemed sloppy in his second (though I am not sure how much he could control things). It appeared as if he let Nawaz get away at times, but could've aimed at perfection.
He also tries to tell too many things in 2 hours. I would've preferred less things but in more detail.
Music: While there are no songs in this movie, background effects were really good and gave me goosebumps many times, inspiring me to pay attention to every scene.
Editing: Like I mentioned, there are too many scenes, and the movie seems very fast. They should've fixed it.
All in all, worth a watch, but don't have high hopes like Sanju or Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 6/10 stars.
