Movie Stills: ChakravyuhCast: Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpai, Esha Gupta
Direction: Prakash Jha
Rating: **1/2
Prakash Jha picks a sensitive subject of social relevance but in his
attempt to pander to popular cinema, he incorporates too many
Bollywoodisms that prevent 'Charavyuh' from becoming an intense
political drama. Jha spends too much time trying to make the film
entertaining rather than focus on the nuances that make a coherent plot.
'Chakravyuh' is a political drama set against the backdrop of the
Naxal Movement. Jha brings to forth many pertinent aspects of the Naxal
ideology — the issue of little or no development for the tribal
communities in India, illegal land acquisition from the farmers, the
collusion of the powerful (the politicians and the industrialists),
police brutality and systematic failure of the law and order system. The
intention is good but Jha flounders on the execution.
Adil Khan (Arjun Rampal) is the honest and courageous police officer
who has been assigned the arduous task of curbing the surge of Naxal
terror. Adil's friend, Kabir (Abhay Deol) proposes to infiltrate the
Naxal camp and become an informer for the police. Jha's choice of
approach to penetrate the Naxal nexus is deeply flawed. Naxalism is
about complete belief in a parallel ideology that is radical and
violent; one night at a police station will not convert you into a
sympathizer of such an ideologically loaded cause unless we are talking
about severe brutality. Jha takes many such logical liberties in the
film, coupled with poorly-written dialogues that really don't resonate
with the intense theme of the film.
Abhay Deol gets to play a complex character but somehow the layers
are not etched out clearly to make his performance stand out. Arjun
plays his part with all sincerity but is saddled with some of the worse
lines. Manoj Bajpai completely fits in as the Naxal commander but the
director doesn't entrust him with shouldering the film and therefore, he
has little to do in the second half. The supporting cast is a complete
letdown.
The narrative is peppered with an unclear romantic track and has an
item song thrown in just for the heck of it. Prakash Jha should
understand that a bold topic is not enough, unless the execution matches
the noble intentions of the plot.
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