Youngistaan

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.

"Youngistaan," stands for a country driven by a young prime-minister who is really a novice in politics. In a way, the film hints into Rahul Gandhi who recently fought for a political election in India. Subject wise the film is pretty good and shows a glimpse of Indian politics and gives you a chance to delve into different shades of politics. But the focus isn't very deep and wraps the issues superficially making the film pretty forgettable. Besides, the film lacks the rawness or other commercial angles that would pull crowds. Though the hero makes a good performance, the things could have been different if Ranbir Kapoor had played the role. Anyway, for me, the film was OK till it lasted but not remarkable.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4

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!

Though politics can easily be quoted as one of the most favorite subjects of general discussion in the public, still for a film adaptation it has always been a dicey one with only few exceptions in the past. So at one end, YOUNGISTAAN can surely be rated as a brave film, trying to en-cash the current political mood of the whole country with a positive message. But on the other, the way it has been presented before the audience with a specific purpose & perfect timing, it more seems to be the part of publicity campaign of one of the leading parties of the nation, rather than being a new Hindi Film in totality.

Directed by Syed Ahmad Afzal, it begins too casually with a party song straight away and then starts imitating the real life political scenario of India, focusing completely on the young character of Jacky Bhagnani as the next Prime Minister of the country and nothing else. The boy reaches the reputed post all of a sudden just because of a favourable stroke of destiny and one can easily raise many questions on the sequences depicting his unexpected entry in politics executed so casually. However following a very light, comic progression, the film does manage to hook you up initially due to its novel concept and few enjoyable scenes. But once the script completely goes into politics; everything starts happening too quickly and in quite a childish way too, forgetting that we are actually talking about A President, PM and other prominent figures running our country and not any high profile owners of a big corporate firm doing the routine business.

So in real terms, YOUNGISTAAN fails to make an impact as it gets confused between various genres and is not able to follow any particular one throughout. In the first few reels, it is a comedy, in the middle ones it turns into a half heartedly made political thriller and then in the last few it becomes a boring social drama with a message given in a prolonged climax. As a result it can simply be rated as a film with an important & heavy subject, made in an equally light, careless or immature way without having any clear path.

To name the plus points, its production design is eye-catching, background score is decent and the soundtrack has got a good song too as 'Suno Na Sangemarmar'. Moroever Jacky once again gives an impressive performance with all his calm charm and Neha Sharma does fine too looking beautiful on the screen. The rest of the cast including Boman Irani, Meeta Vashisht and Kayoze Irani get nothing much to do, except late Farooque Sheikh, who is an absolutely delight to watch and remains the only saving grace in the film right till the end.

In short, it's the post interval section of the film which makes it quite boring to watch as we have already seen enough of that stuff on our TV sets since the last few months. Coming to its realistic references, such are the straight similarities of the film with the contemporary Indian Politics and its ruling party that at times one starts thinking that perhaps this has been made by the party only in order to spread a positive wave about their candidates in the next election. For instance, it has a scene wherein Jackie is probably inaugurating a very high rise statue of a key figure (pointing towards Sardar Patel) and then we have a TV interview of him taken by a renowned journalist named Parnab too (reminding you of Arnab of Times Now Channel). Further the film releasing in a very crucial week just before the elections surely puts you in doubts about the real motive of its making and the actual producers.

Anyway whatever the truth behind its production might be, the basic point is that the film actually suffers a lot due to the completely confused vision of its director, following which he tries to put in almost everything to woo the audience ranging from a video game developer's job, live in relationship, having a child before the marriage and a lead character named Dashrath wearing a purely Muslim attire (to please both the communities). Moreover YOUNGISTAAN can also be called an entirely filmy take or a questionable fantasy version of the current political situation of our country, wherein there is no strong opposition in the picture and also ready made solutions are available with the Prime Minister for every major problem as if he is still playing a video game knowing all its codes.

'Youngistaan' may not be flawless or a razor-sharp political satire, but its A Well-Made, Honest Film. Its potential cannot be denied, despite its visible minuses!

'Youngistaan' Synopsis: Abhimanyu Kaul - a young, independent, Games Developer, living in Japan & the love of his life, Anwita Chauhan - a bubbly, passionate & full of life, summer intern. Their happy and content life faces the test of time, when blood ties & the pressure of being born into the first family of India tears a young Abhimanyu between his love for Anwita & a promise made to his dying father, the Prime Minister of India. Being a public figure, by reluctantly accepting to represent the governing party, much against his own wishes & at the cost of his private life, is a double-edged sword that Abhimanyu must walk on.

'Youngistaan' explores an underdog's story with honesty. It begins well, it progresses well, as the humor works, the political portions work & so do the performances. But, the second-hour begins to lose pace. Once our protagonist, turns into the most powerful man of the country, his journey grips you completely. But, the subplot, the romantic-angle, acts as a deterrent, more-so in the second-hour. Its stagnates the pace as well as the overall impact. Another thing, the length could've been trimmed, by at least 15-minutes.

Syed Ahmad Afzal's Screenplay does justice to an interesting premise, but could've been sharper. His Direction, on the other-hand, is controlled. Cinematography & Editing are good.

Performance-Wise: Jackky Bhagnani enacts the protagonist, with sincerity. He's controlled, mature & believable all through. This has to be his best work till date. Neha Sharma does an okay job. The Late/Great Farooq Sheikh is a joy to watch, as always. Boman Irani is wasted.

On the whole, 'Youngistaan' is a good watch.