Wazir

With its IMDb page created 14 years ago before the film finally released, the makers' attempt at checkmating their audience with their crime drama only results in a stalemate where the game is mostly declared a draw.

The story starts with a death, as dutiful and physically fit anti-terrorist operations officer Daanish (Akhtar) regrets his decision of impulsively going behind a known terrorist when he is out with his family. Seeking vengeance, he goes on a rampage and gets himself suspended, only to meet Dhar (Bachchan), a widowed and physically disabled chess enthusiast, who is fighting his own devils after his teen daughter was killed in a mysterious accident. They become friends, and so starts a game of chess as Daanish becomes a friendly yet courageous horse for Dhar to find his daughter's killer.

Slow motion and suspended audio hook effects in the initial sequences marvelously entices its audience's attention, and it stays that way through the first act. However, Hydari's character evokes a sort of necessary but terse drama into the narrative which continues to happen throughout the movie. With good dialogs and a well-written screenplay, stylistic antagonists appear and drive the story forward. Mukesh's aura is appreciably different for what he's worth, and Nambiar fancily uses his charm to herald a new type of villain into Bollywood that is away from the deadpan elements we have been seeing in celluloid these past years.

However, the story has one too many flaws. Minor ones like Dhar driving a vehicle without his limbs in place can be forgiven, but if one digs deeper into the story that lays itself out in the second act, one will realize that the game which started with 8 ferocious pawns only has one pawn left and it is up to this pawn to take the film forward to a conclusive end. Of course it does, and it does beautifully, but the speed of this transition of a humdrum crime case turning into a thriller is too fast. Flip flops between the drama and the case affects the narrative, only to create an unrest in the audience.

So, as the pawn sets out to find the mysterious wazir, queen dies, and the king is high on vodka. Since the queen is dead, the game is more or less over. The wonderful climax is all that saves the pawn from going out on a limb, and manages to salvage the whole game.

Cast is brilliant; Akhtar and Bachchan are both good, but one will find the latter more believable in his character. Hydari just mops and sobs, while Mukesh does better acting in his 60-second space than in all his rest of the filmography combined. All said and done, Nambiar's attempt thankfully does not get convoluted, and is read out clearly in its 100 minute running time, but still the story has its flaws and the gist of it is nothing new that our palettes haven't tasted before.

BOTTOM LINE: Bejoy Nambiar's Wazir is an inventive thriller whose base story may be ordinary, but watch out for the titular character, for he may impress you with his faith and power and sheer thirst for retribution.

GRADE: C+

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Bejoy Nambiar made waves when he directed Shaitan. A refreshing thriller with an amazing soundtrack and witty dialogues.

This time he's playing with the big boys. Amitab and Farhan, two of the best brains in bolly meet together for this intriguing game of chess, which is laden with twists and turns and takes you through an overall thrilling ride. Neil Nitin Mukesh is probably at his best again after Johnny Gaddar, but remember it was prem ratan dhan paayo, that got him the role in GoT. Aditi Rao Hydari is decent and carries off her character effortlessly like always. :D

But overall I feel this is a positive step for Bollywood. Kudos!

maggyreviews.com (Spoilerless reviews)

Looking at the movie timeline and the thrilling theme that it portrays, it feels that it's crisply made. But often this short movie feels long. You will always want it to proceed further despite it being not irritating at any point. The plot is very interesting but not gripping. It's very little that the film justifies itself but the awesome ending says it all. All the thrill, story, cinematography steals the show because of the brilliant finish.

Farhan Akhtar not really enters completely into the role but still portrays a well focused ACP. Amitabh Bachchan had a great acting success last year and is always a treat to watch. This time he's effective but nothing more than that. All other actors supported the cast well.

I'm a fan of Bejoy Nambiar's direction style. He successfully places his style in this one as well. He is brilliant in parts but also below average in many. Like his last ventures, again he goes above average but it's time for him to go beyond that.

Overall, an interesting plot that's not gripping, but the ending steals the show.

When two acting experts who had marked their name by setting milestones and redefining the acting in their own way are bought together to play two pivotal roles, it just adds extra fun to the flow, when the casting is made well then the half work is done, 2016 release 'Wazir' has perfect casting and its beautifully narrated movie that keep its viewers seated till the credit flow, with strong stiffen plot along with powerful characters this movie holds back its viewers and indulge them in the flow, though the plot seems bit obvious it upholds the quality by presenting the story along with play of chess which runs like a metaphor, the brilliance of blending the symbol with the plot gains extra standard shade to the flick.

Amitab Bachchan with his acting excellence presents himself as a full fledged quality performer, his character filled with pain, brilliance, mystery and with slight touch of fun creates a mark on viewers, Farhan Akthar as an ATS officer renders his best acting, his serious and tough shaded role suits him perfectly, John Abraham cameo has good prominence in the flow, Neil Nitin Mukesh with the dark shade tremendously presents himself, Aditi Rao Hydari with her strong performance fills the intensity of the flow, Farhan and Aditi chemistry worked very well, intense BGM glorifies the suspense of the plot and tunes the scene perfectly, editing is very sharp and crispier, director Bejoy Nambiar handled the work very perfectly and his attempt of combining two good actors worked very well.

Overall 'Wazir' is a worth watch with exemplary casting and powerful plot that for sure never disappoints the thriller movie fans, not too exaggerated with perfect start and proper end film seems very well made.

Movie is so predictable. Maybee its due to moderate editing. Overall concept & script was awesome. Dialogues are good too. Far better then most of Bollywood Movies .All movie is just rolling around 4 or 5 persons most of the time. As usual romance in Bollywood always so bad. , they are just looking at each other all the movie till the end,and background music make it worst.