Sadak 2: From Pooja Bhatt’s ‘Cameo’ to the Missing Owl, 11 WTF Moments in Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur’s Film That We Can’t Just Ignore! (SPOILER ALERT)

What's happening to Sadak 2 on IMDB is bad. The movie has been downvoted to about 1.1 rating, making it the worst voted movie on the site. Of course, most of the voters are haters, using the Sushant Singh Rajput justice bandwagon to troll the 'nepotism' camp. So it is unfair to the Sadak 2 team that they are getting this unwanted hate, even though there is no established link of the Bhatts to SSR demise. But here is a catch. Sadak 2 is a truly bad film! Sadak 2 Movie Review: Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur Take A Road Trip Straight to Dull-Ville.

The sequel to the 1991 film Sadak, that starred Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt in the lead, the movie marks the return of Mahesh Bhatt as a director after a gap of 20 years. This is also the first time Alia Bhatt is doing a fully-fledged role with her home banner, and also the first to be directed by her father, who had directed her elder half-sister in Sadak. So Sadak 2 should have been special for so many reasons.

The trailer was a huge hint of that not being the case. And the final film turned out to be such a dull movie, that even the two-hour runtime felt like a lifetime. The script was bad, the direction was lustreless, the dialogues forced philosophical, the characters had no viewer connect and the music just about okay. Save for Sanjay Dutt, none of the actors, including Alia and Aditya Roy Kapur, could whip up a good performance. Moreover, Sadak 2 was a huge letdown for those '90s kids who cherished the original. Sadak 2: Alia Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt's New Release Becomes the Lowest Rated Movie on IMDB Ever.

There were plenty of WTF moments in Sadak 2, some cheesy, some bad and some inexplicably bad. Here are 11 of our fave such atrocious moments or decisions from the film. Needless to say, plenty of SPOILERS ahead!

Pooja Bhatt's Cameo

Pooja Bhatt had kept herself away from acting for some years now, mostly down work behind the camera, when not countering trolls. When Sadak 2 was first announced, Pooja Bhatt was part of the main cast, even being in the photoshoot. But when the movie came out, Pooja Bhatt was errr... there in the film, but also not there.

As the trailer already told us, her character is dead. But she still makes her presence felt through... footage from first film, portrait, silhouettes (that is clearly not hers) and in one scene, a hand! We hear her speak, off screen of course, but that's it! If we can show an older Ravi (Sanjay Dutt), why not an older Pooja? Or is it that Ravi only wants to remember a younger Pooja?

Pakya

Sanjay Dutt and (the voice of) Pooja Bhatt are not the only actors returning from Sadak. There is also Javed Khan, who played Pakya in the original.

But if you have seen the film and don't really remember where he appeared, don't worry! Even we missed that blink-n-miss cameo and had to recheck after seeing his name in the end-credits! Why bring him for such a miniscule bit, when you could have just ignore the part? We want #JusticeForPakya!

John Gardner

Blame this on our ignorance! In the title credit sequence, we see the name of an actor called John Gardner in the cast. After going through the whole movie, I was confused as to who this guy is. Also I wondered why Akshay Anand, who had a prominent role in the film, was missing his name in the credits. It is then I found out the actor's name was really John Gardner. As per Wikipedia, his name was rechristened so by the late Dev Anand when he was launched in Hum Naujawan. Well, at least, Sadak 2 gave me some researching to do.

BTW, why was his character so grateful to Ravi? Was he there in the original too?

Pamphlets!

Aryaa, in her protest against fake godmen, distributes pamphlets near a temple for exposing them. Yup, we have pamphlets in the time of Facebook! When Vishal points this out to her, she tells him that there is a world outside social media and that someone would be there with the information she needs. Err... won't that same thing also apply to Facebook or Instagram? Also, those platforms would have a better reach than serving pamphlets on temple steps anyway.

But seeing the kind of outrage the Bhatts are facing on social media these days, that scene gets a new meaning altogether!

Also what's with Alia's performance in the scene? Or for the matter, in the entire movie? Alia Bhatt is a really good actress and her performances in Highway, 2 States, Udta Punjab and Raazi are proof enough. In Sadak 2, she was BAD. When I say BAD, I mean whiny BAD!

Jail Ya Spa?

Look at the above picture. Is that a man who has just been released from imprisonment? As per Sadak 2, he is!

When Ravi drives Aryaa to her destination, they pick up her boyfriend Vishal from jail. The only thing he doesn't look like someone who has been released from a prison, but rather having spent two hours at a men's parlour!

Missing: Kumbhakarna

Vishal, for some reason, used to rear an owl in the jail, whom he calls as Kumbhakarna, and he carries it with him when he is released. After parting ways with Ravi, he forgets the owl in the car, though that large cage is something you cannot miss. What's incredulous is that Ravi makes the owl obey his orders and uses it to attack the goons who hold Vishal and Aryaa in captivity, although we never see him train it.

Hey Ravi, Harry Potter calling! He wants to know your secret since, after seven years, even Harry couldn't make Hedwig listen to his orders so smoothly.

Also, where did Kumbhakarna go after this scene?

Dilip Hathkaatha

Like the many cliches in Sadak 2's script, Gulshan Grover's character is one such trope. He is once again a henchman, this time for Gyaan Prakash and he doesn't have a hand, having sacrificed it for his guru for failing a mission.

Is that why he is called Dilip Hathkaatha, or was his name a precursor of his evident fate? Who knows and seeing the lack of impact the character brings to the story, who cares!

A Strange Ode to Maharani

The first Sadak was most remembered for its antagonist, Maharani, a terrifying pimp who actually feels like a threat to the protagonist. The sequel, despite having three major villains, couldn't make even one hold a candle near the late Sadashiv Amrapurkar's performance. The eccentric godman Gyaan Prakash is supposed to be Sadak 2's answer for Maharani, and Mahesh Bhatt pays ode to Maharani by making Gyaan dress up as a woman in the climax.

The reason to do so as Gyaan wanted to disguise himself to escape from the place. recalling Arjun's 'Brihannala' episode of Mahabharata. Only that his drag look is totally funny here and Makarand Deshpande's hammy performance does little to change that opinion.

Missing Security

For a godman as powerful as Gyaan Prakash, protected by a powerful tycoon, it is incredulous to see the consummate ease with which Ravi manages to break the security barriers and get to him and the other villain. The entire finale looks like a lazy rehash of the climax of Sanjay Dutt's own Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3, which at least had some moments of thrills and dark humour. Rather than convoluted convenience tropes and unintentional hilarity, with blaring loud BG score, that we see in Sadak 2.

The Editing Trick

If you have seen the film, you know the real villain is Yogesh (Jisshu Sengupta), Aryaa's father, who had also arranged for the death of her mother, so that he can get their wealth. An injured Ravi manages to corner him in his office, but Yogesh distracts him and then shoots him. Fatally wounded, Ravi falls near the statue of Lord Shiva, and as the BG score with cymbals and chants grow louder, he gazes towards the trishul in the statue's hand and loudly chants "Har Har Mahadeva".

The immediate next scene sees him stabbing Yogesh with the trishul.

How did that happen?

Yogesh was pointing the gun at him all along, so why didn't he see the injured Ravi get up, take the trishul and run towards him? Does Snap Editing applies to real life as well?

Aditya's Awkward Performance During Press Con Scene

After the villains are vanquished and Ravi sacrifices himself in the end, Aryaa holds a press con explaining what actually happened, blaming her father for all her ordeals. Vishal is merely sitting behind here during the whole scene.

Though it is Alia talking, you would end up getting distracted by Aditya's fiddly acting here, as he keeps slightly rocking in his chair and making strange expressions, as if he wants to vomit. A very awkward and comical moment in what is a very serious scene!

Last but not the least, dear Alia, sometimes it is okay to say NO to your family. Especially when they offering something as dull as this sequel that came 29 years too late! Sadak 2 is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2020 11:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).