Sanju Review: 5 Reasons Why Ranbir Kapoor's Film On Sanjay Dutt's Life Will Win Over The Viewers
Sanju has in it to win over the audiences thanks to these five reasons
Finally, the much-hyped Sanju has made its way to the screens, and going by the terrific advance bookings, is all set to be another Rajkumar Hirani special blockbuster. As a public personality, Sanjay Dutt's life is very intriguing and is a good subject for a movie, if properly done. Moreover, one of the best actors in town, Ranbir Kapoor is playing Dutt in the movie. Sanju also boasts of an ensemble cast in Paresh Rawal, Vicky Kaushal, Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Jim Sarbh and Manisha Koirala.
Having watched the movie, I found Sanju to work more as a relationship drama rather than a biopic. As a biopic, Sanju is like any Bollywood PR project made with the blessings of the subject, who is also on board the creative team (like Azhar, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story). However, as a 'fictional' movie with some references to real-life incidents, Sanju has in it to win over the audiences thanks to these five reasons:
Ranbir Kapoor's stellar act
As an actor, Ranbir Kapoor is awesome. For some reason, the box office doesn't agree with it for the past couple of years, with Kapoor delivering duds back to back. However, things might change with Sanju, which looks to benefit from the intrigue about Sanjay Dutt's life and Rajkumar Hirani's clout. That doesn't take away the fact that Ranbir gives an incredible performance as Dutt, making even the weak scenes work with his dedication and charisma. Even though you might end up not loving the movie for being a PR exercise, you will definitely be in awe of this wonderful actor.
Fantastic supporting turns from Vicky Kaushal and Paresh Rawal
It feels amusing that the promos underplayed his portions in the movie, for Vicky Kaushal is almost the parallel lead. And what a brilliant actor he is! After giving good back-to-back performances this year in Love Per Square Foot, Raazi, Lust Stories, Kaushal delivers another winsome act that will get him more fans. The late great Sunil Dut has always been an enigmatic personality and Paresh Rawal has done complete justice to the role. It is performances like these that we pray Rawal to spend less time on Twitter and more in cinema.
Hirani's light-hearted treatment
While Dutt's life has some really dark and depressing episode, Rajkumar Hirani's feel-good treatment does help in endearing many moments to the viewers, including the lead character. I am not in awe of putting humour to drug-peddling, womanising nature of the lead. But the audience around me disagreed by laughing over those jokes. Ah, well!
The winning first half
While the biopic as a whole felt rather underwhelming, the first half of the movie is really good as it establishes the important relationships in Dutt's life, his early drug phase and how he meets his best friend. These portions are well-written, imaginatively picturised and well-paced, and really makes you look forward to what will happen in the second half (which is rather disappointing in comparison).
Keeping the focus on relationships rather than controversies
The audience loves a good bonding story, doesn't it? Taking full advantage of our weakness for relationship saga, the writers (Abhijat Joshi and Hirani) made sure Sanju was all about Dutt's bonding with his father and best friend. Even the controversies in his life are discussed from this perspective. Since Dutt's romances are tricky to show him in a more positive light, the writers put very less focus on Dutt the lover and husband, and gave more importance to him as a son and a friend. Now, who wouldn't fall for that!
Have you seen Sanju? Do you agree with our views above? Share ypur thoughts in the comments section below.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 29, 2018 05:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).