Eklavya - The Royal Guard Movie Reviews

There are some movies that make you exclaim - "Now what was that!?" in a not-so-positive sense. 'Eklavya -The Royal Guard' is one such movie.

There are expectations galore when one ventures into theatres to watch 'Eklavya'. And why not? The film has a superb cast in place, the theme looks novel, Vidhu Vinod Chopra returns to direction after 7 years and last but not the least, it looked like a film that carried International appeal.

Alas, what you get in the end is a talk-heavy film that converges into a battle of 'dharma' and love. Nothing wrong with that but the ease with which film culminates leaves the viewer dissatisfied.

The film starts off well. Amitabh Bachchan's narration of 'The Legend of Eklavya' is well worded and kept short and simple as the titles role. Expectations of watching a polished product are raised in the very first few minutes when Rana Jaywardhan [Boman Irani], a psuedo King at Devigarh, is reading a sonnet from Shakespeare to his dying wife Rani [Sharmila Tagore].

Intrigue builds up as Rani's last wishes of seeing Eklavya [Amitabh Bachchan], the Royal Guard of Devigarh, are left unfulfilled by Rana. Each of the members of the family, Jyotiwardhan [Jackie Shroff] (Rana's younger brother), Harshwardhan [Saif Ali Khan] (Rana's son), Nandini [Raima Sen] (Rana's daughter), Udaywardhan [Jimmy Shergill] (Jyoti's son) and Rajjo [Vidya Balan] (Daughter of Rana's chauffer (Parikshit Sahni) and Harsh's childhood sweetheart) are introduced in a jiffy. Just when you start considering yourself sharp enough to start solving the mystery, Vidhu Vinod Chopra throws in a surprise by opening the cards and revealing the suspense.

The movie so far - just around 20 minutes!
One can't help but applaud VVC by this time since any other film maker may have dragged this to the limit but the director here brings on a crisp narrative.

Totally mesmerized by the experience, you surrender to VVC's vision and start looking forward to the scenes that unfold. The film continues to move on well as the jealousy angle is revealed at the end of Jyoti and Uday. Highlight of the proceedings is the outburst scene featuring the two with young Jimmy holding up brilliantly against veteran Jackie.

The film reaches the intermission point with a twist in the tale and a murder happens which no one could actually see coming. Special marks here for the action choreography by Tinu Verma since he excels in combining the fire of bullets with the running of camels in a desert with topping on the cake being a passing train.

One looks forward to an interesting second half of this short movie, especially with anticipation of fireworks from low cast DSP Pannalal Chohar [Sanjay Dutt] who makes a brief appearance in the first half. Roped in for conducting an investigation, he walks away with all the crowd pleasing lines but the length of his role in the film would make his act in 'Anthony Kaun Hai' a full length feature. But more about later!

Nevertheless, this is the phase of the film when things start becoming a little stagnant. Also the hammer strong impact that one would have expected in a 100 minutes odd film is missing. Narrative starts getting talk heavy and even though Eklavya starts 'punishing' the sinners, it becomes predictable after a point.

There is further twist in the tale towards the pre-climax and though it does raise a few eyebrows, it doesn't quite manage to create a shock value as the narrative would have warranted. The climax featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan is the point which is an absolute downer and would be hard to be digested by one and all. A scene featuring Sanjay Dutt before the end title roll has a clear Bollywood angle to it and does manage to bring on the chuckles, even though the scars of being unsatisfied with the final product remain!
Talking about the technical aspects of the film, 'Eklavya' shines in each of the departments, whether it is sets, lighting, cinematography, action or sound. It won't be wrong to say that the film gives a truly royal experience on the big screen.

One can clearly sense that the film has been heavily edited to keep the duration in check since the 'suppressed villagers' episode in the film seems to be of minimal relevance to the plot.

Background music is the lifeline of 'Eklavya' as it elevates most of the scenes to a certain height as demanded by the situation. The sole song 'Chanda Re' is there for a short duration though one feels that even it could have been easily omitted.

VVC has claimed that Big B has delivered his finest performance so far. After watching the film, one can conveniently say that Big B is right when he denies that to be the case. Yes, he acts well but then it is certainly not in the same league that has made him the most powerful superstar of all times. One can count at least 10 more superlative performances from him.

Saif Ali Khan is good though it would be foolhardy to even compare it with his most acclaimed performance till date as 'Langda Tyagi' in 'Omkara' since the dynamics of the two characters are completely different. It is Sanjay Dutt who is the most lovable of all in the film as he is sheer powerhouse whenever he arrives on screen. The sad part is that he has only 4-5 scenes and though he has at least one 'seeti-maar' dialogue in each of them, how one wishes that there was more of him. Ditto for Jackie since one expected a deeper insight into his character which seemed to have been left at the editing table.

Jimmy Shergill is natural (yet again) and shows that he can deliver a lot more even with the blessings of a chocolate face. Boman Irani shows another facet of his as he plays a complex character of a man who has lost it all - his kingdom and self-respect! It is impressive to see the feminine side in him brought out in a very subtle manner. Vidya Balan is good though her role doesn't quite demand her to be exceptional. Parikshit Sahni and Raima Sen are fair but that's about it.

In nutshell, 'Eklavya - The Royal Guard' doesn't quite live up the expectations. Disappointing to a good degree, it promises much at the onset but in the end the moral of the story makes you wonder if the film has actually delivered what it was set out to be. For those who love to watch a film in all its technical finesse, 'Eklavya' is a good bet, but for those looking out for an overall great cinematic experience with an impressive story as the asking, the film doesn't quite fit the bill.