Chakravyuh Review

CHAKRAVYUH is a Hindi feature film which released today i.e. on 24th October, 2012 on the eve of Dussehra. It has been directed by Prakash Jha under the banner of Eros International and Prakash Jha Productions. It was in news due to its controversial song 'Mehangai-Tata-Bata' but does this controversy give any benefit to this film? It is a socio-political-thriller but does it keep you hooked? Read the review ahead.

Story : The story is about the naxalism prevalent in our country and how the police tackle it.

Adil Khan (Arjun Rampal) and his wife Rhea (Esha Gupta) are police officers. They are wife and husband as well. In the beginning it is shown how they are living the life of police by grabbing some criminals etc. Meanwhile Rhea gets a call from Kabir (Abhay Deol) and the director introduces him (Kabir) taking you into flashbacks. You are told that all three were taking training at a police training institute and they were good friends. But Kabir's nature was very different. He used to take decisions from his heart and not from his mind so he had become tempestuous (in the eyes of others). He used to fight for others rights which landed him in trouble and eventually he was kicked out of that police institute.

Now cut back to present! Kabir meets Rhea and Adil in a dramatic way after a gap of almost 7 years. He tells them that he was in mobile handset manufacturing business but was not doing well.

Thereafter, you come to know about the naxalism in Nandighat, Madhya Pradesh. Police seems to be helpless in front of naxals and no one is able to conquer them. No one wants to take posting at Nandighat due to the panic of naxals because they used to kill those policemen brutally who came in their way.

In order to nab them, Adil deliberately takes his posting to that area. When his wife comes to know this she gets shocked. She even blames him- how could he take such a serious step without informing her. She is not at all happy about his transfer to that area of naxals but Adil doesn't change his decision at any cost. She seeks help of Kabir but Adil doesn't even listen to his suggestions.

Finally Adil is posted at Nandighat.

In order to grab the naxlas he makes plans and attacks them with his force but every time he gets defeated. Even many policemen are killed by the naxals. He has to answer this to higher level but he is unable to satisfy them. He doesn't know what to do? How to nab the naxals?

Just then Kabir reaches there. Adil is pleasantly surprised to see him there. Kabir comes to know everything and offers him his help by entering into the naxal gang as his informer. Initially, Adil doesn't want him to do this because this was a risky job and his life would always be at stake but Kabir manages to convince him. Seeing no other way Adil agrees to send him as his informer.

Eventually, both of them make a plan to get into the gang of the naxals and one day Kabir manages to enter into naxal group. He soon wins their confidence and starts passing information to Adil and in return Adil keeps attacking them and destroying them.

But a time comes when Kabir realizes that what naxals were doing was not wrong and what police were doing to them was not right. This changes his mind and now instead of destroying the naxals, he becomes genuinely a naxalite and starts helping them and punishing the police who were rapist and culprits.

When Adil comes to know this he goes against him and even wants him to get killed. Here you can see how an honest cop turns selfish and instead of finding any other way to conquer the naxals, he wants to take the life of his friend who had helped him so much!

What would be the fate of Kabir? Would the naxals kill him after knowing that he was a police informer? All such queries are answered in the remaining part of the film.

Performance : Abhay Deol has performed very well. In fact he has stolen the show. On the other hand Arjun Rampal is just average. His performance is as usual and nothing extraordinary. Esha Gupa as his wife is also not impressive. She also has a very short role and has nothing to do except in the climax which is not so impressive. Anjali Patil looks very good. In the role of a gang member of the naxals, she has acted very well as well as looked beautiful despite her non glamorous costumes. Om Puri is good. Kabir Khan is also okay. Murli Sharma has justified his role. Manoj Bajpayee is very good in his role and after Abhay Deol, he is the one who will impress you with his presence despite his short role.

Script : The plot/story of the film is very strong and on an issue which is still prevalent in our country. But it has not been presented in an effective manner. The screenplay is very weak. There are many loopholes in the screenplay which may cause you irritation. There are three writers such as Anjum Rajabali, Sagar Pandya and Prakash Jha himself, but it is really puzzling how none of them could see the loopholes in it! Characterization is also not well defined. Some scenes are forcibly inserted to create humor but they don't make you laugh and you just giggle at their foolishness. Some dialogues are powerful whereas some are very weak. Above all, there are a few dialogues which are GRAMMATICALLY WRONG! It is really surprising to see how a filmmaker like Prakash Jha could allow wrong Hindi dialogues spoken in his films (because he is known to pay a lot of attention on correct Hindi). There is a dialogue-POLICE APKO MADAD AUR PROTECTION DEGA…The correct dialogue should have been- POLICE APKO MADAD AUR PROTECTION DEGI (not Dega).

Music : Music of the film is below average in terms of songs. Its music has been composed by many music directors such as Salim-Sulaiman, Aadesh Srivastav, Vijay Varma, Sandesh Shandilya etc. but except the 'Mehangaai-Bata-Tata' song, no other song is able to leave any impact. It lyrics is also good and funny. However, the film's background music is very good. It is the background music which doesn't keep you bored.

Choreography : Its choreography is given by Ganesh Acharya but none of the songs appeal you in terms of choreography. An item song filmed on Sameera Reddy is also not impressive in terms of its choreography. The choreography of 'Mehangaai' song could have been better and different but it has been presented very lightly.

Action : Abbas Ali Moghul's action is good at some places otherwise in most of the scenes you just get to see gun firing and bomb blasts shots.

Cinematography : Sachin Krishna's camerawork is also not appealing. The light work is not up to the mark. Most of the scenes are not clear and you don't know what is going on..You just keep guessing.

Direction : Since Prakash Jha is a big director, you don't expect such low level direction from his side. This film's direction is weak in terms of many aspects. Most of the shots are just long shots and you don't know what's happening in the scene. Many close ups seem to miss (or is it editor's fault who did not pick up the right shots?) It seems that most of the scenes are filmed with real villagers of that area so except the main characters, all other characters appear just shooting for a film and very few look as real character of the film.

How the item song appears (when they are in jungle and the item song is filmed in a lavish area), you are unable to find its answer. Did they go to lavish area from the jungle to grab Murli Sharma within seconds?

Above all, when a villager tries to inform Adil Khan on phone, Adil Khan remains dull and inactive. Even when Rajan calls him and tells him that Rajan was speaking, Adil doesn't know who Rajan was! So did he go to nab them and he did not even know who their gang leader was?

And when the informer is killed it is night time but when Adil reaches that place its day time and Adil's dress is also changed. So did it mean that Adil changed his dress and waited for the day to approach instead of rushing to the villager immediately? This is a big question which the director did not notice. There are many more such mistakes in the film.

The director doesn't answer many questions about Kabir as well. It is also unconvincing the ways he wins the confidence of the naxals and no one suspects him till the photo is published.

Even the kissing scene was not needed. The dress Esha wears was not relevant to the subject or her character.

The only good thing the director has done is that he has portrayed both the sides in equal manner i.e. he has put the points of naxals as well as of police.

Plus Points : The Story; The Issue; The Message

Minus Points : Weak Screenplay; Weak Direction; Poor Music; Poor Camerawork;

Conclusion : This is an issue based film. Prakash Jha dared to make a film on this issue (which was also made earlier by Ananth Mahadevan titled as 'Red Alert' starring Suniel Shetty in 2010) which very few film makers would dare to touch such subjects. So he should be applauded for this brave effort. But the minus point is that he could not present in a well and effective manner.

Box Office Predictions : If luck favours it, fine, otherwise it is very difficult for it to survive at the box office.

Verdict : If you want to watch naxalite problem in India you can go for it! This film delivers strong message at the end. However, you will not find 6 extraordinary characters in the film (as it was said in its promotions). You will get to see only two extraordinary characters-Kabir (Abhay Deol) and Juhi (Anjali Patil)!