Aarakshan Review

AARAKSHAN is a Hindi feature film which released on 12th August, 2011. This film has been directed by Prakash Jha and Amitabh Bachchan has played one of the lead roles in this film.

This film was in controversy much before its release due the reservation factor. This issue is very sensitive and many governments came in power and were de-powered due to this issue in previous years.

Story : Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan) is a professor in a college. He is very disciplined and idealistic and also wants his students to be well disciplined. He wants to help out weak and poor students, especially Dalits. Prof. Anand likes his student Deepak (Saif Ali Khan) and Deepak falls in love with his daughter Poorbi (Deepika Padukone). Deepak also starts teaching in Prof. Anand's college.Sushant Seth (Prateik Babbar) belongs to high caste and above all his family is rich. Despite all these facts, he studies in Prof. Anand's college.

There is no discrimination in the college of Prof. Anand whether any student belongs to high class or low class. But things take turn when Supreme Court upholds the quota system of the government. Tension builds up between lower caste students and higher caste students due to this.What happens further helps the film to move ahead for a while but not too long.

Meanwhile a villain enters in the life of Prof. Anand (who does not enter suddenly but who remains present there and who had been looking for an opportunity for things to come in his control). He is none other than Mithilesh Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) due to whom Prof. Anand's life becomes miserable and he is deprived of his house, which was provided by the college administration. Now Mithlesh Singh's group starts using Prof. Anand's house to run their coaching classes.

Prof. Anand doesn't know what to do; how and where to teach his students. He becomes homeless!Despite being homeless, he resumes teaching in a cow shed.Meanwhile misunderstanding also develops between Deepak and Prof. Anand which brings bitterness in the love story of Deepak and Poorbi.At time comes when Sushant realizes that Prof. Anand was right and he feels sorry for his act.

Whether Prof. Anand is able to get back his prestige and teach Mithilesh a lesson; whether Deepak and Poorbi's love story has a happy ending or not are some questions that make rest of the film.

Performance : Amitabh Bachchan is excellent in his role. He has proved again that no one can match him in acting and style. No one has ever delivered better dialogue than him. His accent of Hindi is top notch and others can learn from him how to speak and pronounce Hindi.

Prateik Babbar is so and so and needs to sharpen his skills.

Deepika Padukone looks beautiful and has acted very well.

Saif Ali Khan is as usual.

Manoj Bajpayee has done over acting in some scenes and doesn't look natural at most places.

Script : A few dialogues written by Anjum Rajbuli and Prakash Jha are good but screenplay is confusing and moves ahead in zigzag motion which keeps the audience confused. Hindi words used in this film are good and powerful which proves the knowledge of the writers. But there are many loopholes in the script as a feature film. It does not focus what it wants to say and the way it should be said. It is vague in its objective.

Music : After a long time the music directors Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have given music which is up to the mark and fits in the situation of the film but still you can't play these songs repeatedly because they are situational and not general and they suits only in the film.

Lyrics is average.

Cinematography : Not up to the mark when taken close ups. However, DOP has done good job in wide shots and long shots.

Direction : Direction by Prakash Jha is average and the film drags and is confusing. It seems that a documentary film has been released in the form of feature film. The director has failed to give any clear message even though he attempted a bold and controversial subject.

Conclusion : The issue of reservation has not been dealt properly and appears to be biased. Only the first half of the film deals with reservation matter than shifts to some other issues. This film shows how Professors run coaching classes in a few states like Bihar, Jharkhand, UP etc. for their own benefit. They do not teach sincerely in their colleges. It is prevalent in most of the states of India.

Plus Points : Amitabh Bachchan is the plus point of the film. Deepika Padukone too is another plus point of the film. Good Hindi language is yet another plus point of the film.

Minus Point : The film fails to tackle the reservation issue properly and is unable to justify it. This issue should satisfy all through its logic but it has failed to do so.

Verdict : Go only to watch Amitabh Bachchan's superb acting and Deepika Padukone's beauty. Otherwise nothing else may attract you