Youngistaan

I have looked at several movies based on Indian politics (Raajneeti being the best) This is by far the most boring. It was an interesting premise: about a young man who is thrust into Indian politics and becomes the leader of one of the world's largest democracies. However, I believe that shoddy direction resulted in an uninspiring movie. The acting left a lot to be desired.Jacky's attempt to pull of the role of a serious politician fell flat, and I am yet to figure out what Neha's role in this movie was. Farooq Shaik's role wasn't bad, but it was brief.The music was totally lacklustre, the only "good" song being Suno Na. All other songs came across as noise. Final Rating 3/10

Youngistaan Movie Review : The idea of Youngistaan might have germinated from the 'dance of democracy' brouhaha that our nation is currently witnessing with the vibrant political scenario. And with the Parliamentary elections looming large, the release of this film finds a suitably perfect time. But well- intentioned ideas do not necessarily translate into successful product.

Debutant director Syed Ahmad Afzalmight have set his eyes on this ambitious yet sensitive subject like politics but somehow doesn't succeed in bringing out the interesting mix of drama, action, power and cynicism. The story which kicks off in Tokyo with an impressive background score(Salim Sulaiman) where Abhinav Kaul(Jackkie Vagnani)is working hard as a gamer and partying hard with his live-in girlfriend,Anvita(Neha Sharma) and pal( Kayoze Irani),takes a sudden U- turn to India's capital with the death of his father, Dasrath Kaul(Boman Irani, cameo) who happens to the country's PM. Overnight, his life is changed when he is entrusted with the responsibility of the country's most coveted seat of the acting PM.

"With great power comes greater responsibility " – Abhi soon faces hostility from members within his party, delves deeper to unravel a scam.His bewilderment in the dirty game is no lesser than her girlfriend's continuing dismay who doesn't get any private time with him.At this juncture , his only confidante is the endearing PA to his late father ,Akbar uncle(Late Farooq Sheikh Saab) who silently encourages him at every step. Afzal seems to model his protagonist on the Congress VP, Rahul Gandhi where his stubbled looks, wardrobes and demeanor find a striking similarity but the plot focuses more on his personal life and the upheavals caused due to the media, with some purely avoidable inserts of comic elements. The narrative doesn't gather the necessary momentum and with a sloppy execution ,it touches the core issues only at the periphery. Some of the potential ideas which the film introduces like the youth reforms, e-voting are not pushed further and eventually they fall flat.

Resultantly ,it doesn't offer much scope for Jackkie Vagnani who tries to pull-off with a committed performance but gets absorbed in the uninspiring scheme of affairs.Neha Sharma is sporty but falters in the emotional parts. It's a wise assortment of talented supporting casts like Mita Vasisth, Prakash Belawadi(of Madras Café fame) and Farooq Sheikh but none of their characters are sketched in an illustrious way.

Overall, Youngistaan starts off well, makes tall claims and much like our nation's leaders,fails to deliver.

The movie starts of slow, but the attitude and the slow build of the story line keeps you gripping, the actors have played a great role in gripping the movie. The director's vision is great waiting for the sequel(hope doesn't get boxed because of low box office response).

The story line is not new, it is something we already have come across in many movies the change, but the manner of portrayal sure is different. I would watch it again I really don't mind, the background music beats grip you.

We see a movie just for time pass but try to see them based on what we can take out of these movies. The life lessons like the ones in the movie are small and practical and they hit the nail on the head and should be easy to identify.

The above is my personal opinion.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid

Rating: 3.4/5 stars

A wonderful ideology, well-executed within the best of its limitations. "Youngistaan" addresses some pressing and extremely relevant topics, and while the film doesn't always succeed in presenting a lucid theory towards these problems plaguing the nation, it does manage to stir emotions and inspire viewers to a degree by serving a pertinent canvas of political issues.

Director, Syed Ahmed Afzal, weaves a decent narrative around an inspirational plot, and even though his handling of this complex subject is a tad underwhelming at times, at the end of the day he does manage to get the tone and feel of the film right. Superior scripting and crisper plot transitions could have helped the film convey its message more assuredly, nevertheless, given a chance "Youngistaan" does grow on you over the course of its approximately 2-hour duration.

Punching way above its weight, "Youngistaan" is pleasantly entertaining and thought-provoking. More importantly, it gives Farooq Shaikh a memorable swansong in a well-written role.

Just finished watching this movie and found it a little different from the typical Bollywood fare. It has love & politics and relationships but no action sequences to determine which is better - love or politics. I imagine this would reverberate at least a little with the audience at the metro cities in India.

The movie is about the son of the PM who takes over as the PM upon the death of his father. And yes - one can see similarities between the actions of some real-life characters in the Indian political system (both past & present).

It seemed like the director had a lot of good ideas and wanted to try out all of them in the movie which leads to a pretty disjointed feeling as you go through the movie. Should the focus be on the political maneuvering skills, managing the "uniqueness" of his personal life or trying to charm "young India" with technology? The director has tried to address every possible scenario in the life of a PM which seemed a bit of an overkill. Considering the target audience, it would've been wiser to pick a main plot and build a few sub-plots around it but instead, this turned out to be a serious of parallel stories just moving along.

In addition, there are few good characters/actors who seemed wasted with just a few random scenes here & there - one of being Boman Irani Jr. I haven't seen him in any movie after Student of the Year and it was good to see him on screen again but sadly not enough meat in his role.

Jacky Bhagnani has done a fairly decent role as the young PM. But his lack of expressions makes the movie a little dull & dragging. Neha Sharma is there to act pretty and nothing more. Farooq Sheikh was of course the best of the lot. This was perhaps amongst his last few movies along with "Yeh Jawani.." Overall, watchable once for the slightly different theme it carries. I didn't watch it in a theater and so it wasn't a couple of waste of time. I watched it at home when I was doing other stuff and hence didn't really feel like I wasted my time!