Based on “Do and Die†by Manini Chaterjee, this film is about the Chittagong uprising in 1930. The director remains faithful to the original plot and never puts anything new to the subject and so the film successfully remains consistent in gripping the attention. Abhishek Bachchan is excellent as the heroic character and Deepika adds a great value. Sikander Kher is very good but in small character its Vishaka Singh who stands out. Both Deepika and Vishaka have nothing to do in this film but whenever they appears they delivers their best. All others are also very nice in their respective roles especially the teenagers. Sohail Sen’s music isn’t great but the title song and the music he adds to “Vande Matram†is simply great to listen. Yes the film has its share of flaws as the biggest is the 2.50hrs running time which should have been sharply edited because the director uses whole pre-intermission to establish many characters and family bonding of some of them so that he can utilize the bonding for the emotions in second half. The emotions are not so effective keeps you blank at some time. But despite such flaws this film works for the honesty the director invests and he never gets tired of putting a soul to the story, and he even succeeds. His direction is fantastic because he doesn’t only concentrates on Abhishek but the characters. The first hour gets bit slowly because the narration doesn’t have anything but the second half dramatically picks the momentum and you cannot take your eyes from the screen and you. There is too much of action that constantly keeps you at the edge of your seats and for this reason it is a must see film for everyone who should never forget these revolutionaries and who have forgotten this chapter with the history. It’s appealing and entertaining simultaneously. Thumbs Up to Ashutosh who opens many things with this film.
Review: 3.5/5
