| Movie Review | Kuala Lumpur | 3 Sept 2016 | Asia Samachar |
CRITIC’S RATING: 3/5
Despite a very promising start in the first half, the movie slowly starts to fade and turns draggy. (Warning: May contain spoilers)
Main Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Konkana Sen Sharma
By Movie Walla
Often we have Bollywood films trying to break female stereotypes. With Akira, filmmaker A.R. Murugadoss tried to do the same but the script contained considerable flaws.
Set in a small town in Jodhpur, Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) very early in life sees brutal crime committed on a neighbour and learns to defend herself. Rather than getting commended for her bravery, she grows up in tough conditions during her childhood.
Fast forward 14 years, Akira and her mum are invited to move to Mumbai to live with her brother and unwelcoming sister-in-law.
On the other side of the plot, we have a group of four corrupt policemen, led by ACP Rane (Anurag Kashyap).
While strolling around, they come across an accident at a quiet location and find a huge chunk of cash in the trunk of the car. Instead of helping the victim, overwhelmed by ill intentions, they kill the already wounded victim and flee with the cash. Whilst trying to cover this up, they slowly fall deeper and deeper into a pit.
ACP Rane, played by Anurag Kashyap (Producer of Udta Punjab), was stunning on screen with some brilliant acting. He absolutely stole the show with his antics. While Kashyap is famed for his role behind the cameras, he certainly did not disappoint as an actor either. Who would’ve known that this man can act too! Half a star in the ratings goes to his performance alone.
A string of bizarre co-incidences occur after the intermission echoing typical Bollywood stereotypes. Fast forward all the drama, the unfolding of the evident and apparent shortcomings in the script, Akira is being hunted by ACP Rane and his troupe. While she escapes a point blank encounter, they still somehow find a way to get her sent to a mental asylum and prove that Akira is mentally ill.
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The film had such a promising start. It was infuriating to see it go down the road it took. The unnecessary plot twists and screen time wasted at the asylum. Akira putting on her fighting shoes, taking on 20-30 people at one go and mind you, trashing them all to escape the asylum only to be sent right back to the asylum. Rather pointless while on the other hand SP Rabiya (Konkana Sen Sharma) essayed the role of an honest policewoman attempting to solve the crime.
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The film tried to take the audience on a merry go round with its typical stereotypes and ridiculous coincidences. Sonakshi gave her all and to a certain level, almost succeeded in winning the heart of the audience right till the faulty plot took over in the second half of the film. The climax was almost laughable, to be frank.
However, credit to the filmmakers, they did not see the need to add a number unnecessary songs to disturb the flow of the film. Though, the promotional song of the film, sung by lead actress Sonakshi Sinha titled Rajj Rajj Ke, raises a couple of questions. Her vocals were poor and not even auto tunes could save it. Begs the question, why can’t they let singers go ahead and do the singing while actors do the acting? Aside from this, the soundtrack of the film was pretty average.
It’s a decent one time watch. Go ahead and decide for yourself. Share your comments with us.
Below are the notable Bollywood films releasing this month so block your dates.
9 Sept: Baar Baar Dekho (Siddhart Malhotra, Katrina Kaif) & Freaky Ali (Nawazuddin Siddique)
16 Sept: Pink (Amitabh Bachan, Tapsee Pannu) & Raaz Rebooted (Emraan Hashmi)
30 Sept: MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (Sushant Singh Rajput, Anupam Kher)
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