Of course, Genius is meant to be a film for Anil Sharma to show that his son, Utkarsh, has every ingredient that qualifies him to be a bonafide leading man. So in the film, Utkarsh gets to people fawn over him, girls call him 'hot' at one point of time and near the end, people even do an aarti of him. So everything in Genius revolves around making Utkarsh a glorified persona, with even the villain, played by a bigger star, taking a back seat. A phenomenon we get to see every time a father gets to direct his son's debut. The trick here is to achieve the kind of success Hrithik Roshan got with Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, and not end up being a Mustafa and his debut movie, Machine. Unfortunately for a very earnest Utkarsh, his launchpad tends to lean a lot towards the latter scenario.
So Utkarsh plays Vasudev Shastri, a young orphan from Mathura who has a genius intellect. He joins IIT, where he falls in love with a pretty fellow Nandini (Ishita Chauhan), who first looks down upon his rural upbringing only to develop a soft corner for him later. Later, Vasudev catches the attention of NSA Jaikishen (Mithun Chakraborty) and is recruited in RAW, where he is assigned to catch the leader of all terrorist activities. That leader happens to be the mysterious, shady MRS (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a man with an intellect that matches Vasu. When Vasu tries to apprehend MRS in a botched mission, it leads to some very dangerous consequences for the hero.
To be honest, there was a very smart cat-n-mouse game hidden in this drab excuse for a star-son launchpad. The whole Vasu vs Utkarsh angle, as they engage in a battle of wits and who makes the better quips, has some good moments. With better writing and execution, we could really have had a Day of The Jackal kind of movie here. Genius even starts off on an interesting note by showing us the aftermath of the botched mission. The next scene has Vasu return to his RAW office and the sequence where he gets to show off his deduction skills is well done. So is the scene that shows the acoustic trauma he suffers from as a result of the encounter with MRS. Some really good sound design from the Academy Award-winning Resul Pookutty in there. And then it all tumbles down.
Well, that's what you expect when Anil Sharma would rather want to create a large canvas for his son to do everything a newcomer has to do and put the more interesting aspects of the film shoved away. So Utkarsh gets to fight, deliver big monologues, romance, dance, sing, play the guitar and even have the customary six-pack shot. Not to mention, indulging in shameless jingoism (the reverse National flag from Satyameva Jayate makes an appearance here too). He even gets to tattoo himself. In case you overlook any of his superhuman abilities, papa Sharma also arranges for junior artistes to clap and praise the hero whenever he does something extraordinary, even if it includes shamelessly flirting with a girl.
The romantic sequences set in the campus (supposedly IIT, but more St Theresa's) is something taken out of a '90s movie, where the girl is the snobbish variety and the boy gets tames the shrew. It also gives Utkarsh his Namastey London moment, where he goes on an Akshay Kumar-like monologue. Only here, he talks more about the significance of Vedas and scriptures. These portions, including some set in Lakshadweep (looking more like South Bombay) where Nandini takes a beleaguered Vasu to her house in the isles, make the first half very weak. Not to mention, the back to back songs. Thankfully Himesh Reshammiya's score is pleasant enough, if not the chartbuster variety.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui makes his appearance near the interval, and it is from this point that Genius gets some signs of life. Saying that, even the presence of a scene-stealing actor and the movie's focus on the thriller aspects don't help the film rise above its meandering writing and direction. There are too many silly twists thrown in, the hero's schizophrenia subplot is farcical and the hero vs villain scenes don't enthral much as you want them to. The climax is stretched too much and filled with every cliches you expect in an action film from the yonder years. I was also absolutely tired with the number of times the word 'Genius' was uttered by nearly every character in the film. Mithun's RAW head even gives a very imprecise definition of the word in the climax, that would make even the real geniuses wonder what the hell he is talking about.
While Anil Sharma's biggest hit was, of course, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, the film of his that impressed me the most was Apne. It might not be a landmark film, but the emotions in the Deols' sports drama hit the right spot, while the boxing scenes were well-choreographed. No such luck for his son's debut though, as someone forgot to give Mr Sharma the memo that we have ditched these kinds of narratives two decades back.
That said, Genius scores high on its technical aspects. As mentioned before, the sound design is really good. The cinematography by Najeeb Khan gives a beautiful canvas for the film. The background score by Monty Sharma is just okay.
The Performances
Sure, Genius revolves around him so much that it becomes highly irritating, but Utkarsh Sharma is more than a decent actor. He has a likeable screen presence and adequate histrionic abilities, with the knack of delivering long monologues with ease. With a better film and a better director, there is a high potential in him to shine in the future.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui's presence surely enlivens the proceedings, and some of his lines are worth a chuckle. But his performance feels very gimmicky and lacks the chutzpah of his Kick act, save for that scene where he talks to the hero about his checkered past (ruined, though, by an unnecessarily emotional BG score). By the end, he turns out to be usual megalomaniac villain with doomsday aspirations and an evil laugh.
Ishita Chauhan is quite pretty, but delivers a very stilted performance. Her character is also weak; she has an IIT-level intellect and yet needs the hero's rescuing at every nook and turn. Seeing Ayesha Jhulka after such a long time felt nice. She plays the heroine's cool-minded mother (while her male co-stars from the '90s are still romancing girls almost the same age as Ishita), though it doesn't give her much to do. Mithun Chakraborty feels stiff, while a talented Abhimanyu Singh is wasted.
Yay!
- Utkarsh Sharma's decent debut
- Nawazuddin's screen presence
- Some interesting moments after Nawaz's entry
- Cinematography and Sound editing
Nay!
- Weak writing and average direction
- The first half is blah!
- The heroine doesn't get much to do
- Too long
- Silly twists and subplots
- Some awful performances from the supporting cast
Final Thoughts
For a star-son launchpad to click with the audiences, the movie needs some Genius-level writing and direction, something Utkarsh Sharma's debut lacks on both counts. That's harsh on the young actor as he has promise. Genius is a film that is out of its time and has little potential to connect with the audience.
(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2018 02:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).