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By Joginder Tuteja, March 12, 2010 - 13:48 IST
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Sachin Nayak, Pradip Sagar, Pradeep Kabra
Director: Pryas Gupta
Producer: Pryas Gupta, Rohan Gupta, Sandeep Hooda
Music: Sagar Desai
THE FILM
It actually took me quite some time to begin penning down the review of Siddharth - The Prisoner. I was annoyed, amused, angry, frustrated, puzzled, irritated, confused - all at the same time. Now this is something that no film maker would ever want his audience to be subjected to. However, this is what happened to me and I ended up wondering if it was something to do with the varied sensibility that one must have while watching a film like Siddharth. Are all such mixed feelings mainly due to the fact that Siddharth was anyways meant for festival circuits and didn't quite have anything for mainstream audience?
Chalo, yeh bhi maan liya but then as a movie buff who has a tendency to find at least something redeeming in any film, whether it is made well or not, there was just nothing
at all which remained with me after those torturous 90 minutes that were spent in watching Siddharth. If at all there was something which remained, it was the painstakingly slow pace, grim visuals, lack of spoken words, boring background score and worse, lack of semblance of any fixed editing pattern. Really, Siddharth eventually turns out to be so abstract, so boring, so painful and so 'just-not-happening' that it makes John Abraham's No Smoking look like a cult classic.
Chalo, yeh bhi maan liya but what about storyline? Well, honestly one does wonder if there is anyways a concrete storyline to Siddharth. A man (Rajat Kapoor) with this name is released from prison, is informed by a rather helpful lawyer friend that his wife has called for divorce, tries to get hold of his life by writing a book, looses his manuscript in exchange of a few lakhs and now is in a dilemma of what does he want most - the money, the manuscript or his son from his estranged wife.
Chalo, yeh bhi maan liya but only partially as one gives a benefit of doubt to first time director Pryas Gupta to come up with something interesting. However, all the man does is play around with the camera (something which is seen often with first timers), roam around Mumbai in day and night, capture some trademark shots that show the darker side of the city and all of a sudden bring around some philosophical connotation to the entire plot as well. Moreover, there is colourful language on ample display as well, some of it turning out to be as crude as it gets.
Chalo, yeh bhi maan liya but worse, the lead protagonist here is not showing to be mouthing any dialogues which only makes the narrative further boring since it's all left to
the director to convey the story through visuals. Sachin Nayak, the young man who is also troubled due to the exchange of manuscript with the money which was handed over by his boss (Pradip Sagar), keeps getting beaten up and kicked, either physically and emotionally. However, all you are concerned about is the mental beating that you are subjected to as an audience.
Chalo, yeh bhi maan liya but yeh ending kya thi bhai? Really, it has to be seen to be believed. The last scene actually has 'festival cinema' written all over it in bold and as
the end credits start rolling, you end up being hopelessly despaired. Add to that all the emotions that are mentioned in the first line of the review.
PACKAGING
DVD of Siddharth comes in a regular plastic case. There is a free DVD plugged in though. I got Rishi Kapoor-Nana Patekar starrer Hum Dono.
DURATION
The film's duration is 90 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES
- None
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
- Subtitles in English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo
PRICE
Rs. 199/=
CONCLUSION
If you want to be annoyed, amused, angry, frustrated, puzzled, irritated and confused, pick up this film.
 
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