It’s good to see a film where the protagonists are not in a hurry to take off each other’s clothes and do it before 10 minutes are up. It also makes a point for moving on. Vasudha has found a caring husband in Abhijeet (Jimmy Sheirgill), who is large-hearted enough to meet Krishna when he gets out of jail.
But there are two films here and not one. We have a tender love story on one hand and a jail diary on the other. Taken in isolation, both work fine. But director Neeraj Pandey and his writers haven’t bridged them properly and that’s the bummer. The narrative goes back and forth and after a while, things get repetitive. The film’s pace is uneven and thus jarring. In some places, you struggle to maintain attention. MM Kreem has given some nice tunes to the film, but the music wasn’t promoted much. Songs are the souls of such films and in today’s world marketing rules but that wasn’t done. The qawwali, Kisi roz, sung by Maithili Thakur stands out. Actually, given the storyline, Kisi Roz could have been a better title for the film. This song too belongs to another era, like the film.
While we get plenty of tender moments between young Krishna and Vasudha, we’re deprived of the same when it comes to interaction between their middle-aged avatars. Both Shantanu Maheshwari and Saiee Manjrekar have performed well. It’s Shantanu’s most mature role till date and one can say he has come of age. And Saiee too impresses in a deglamorized role. But this film was touted as a love story between Ajay Devgn and Tabu and not Shantanu and Saiee. While the director is to be lauded for not de-aging the actors through CGI and letting other actors play the younger versions, the die hard Tabu and Ajay fans will feel cheated. Especially since the younger set of actors have more screen time together than the bigger stars.
When the older versions do meet, the hesitancy, the inability to express what they feel is enacted well by both Ajay and Tabu. The awkwardness in their body language, their silences, and the tears, unshed in his case and flowing freely in hers, say it all without saying much. It’s a masterclass in controlled acting handled smoothly by two seasoned veterans. How we wish they had more scenes together. Both Ajay Devgn and Tabu now need to do another love story where the focus would be on them throughout. Ajay’s meeting with Abhijeet too is underlined with unsaid words. Jimmy Sheirgill knows how to play the good guy and, in this film, at least, gets to keep the girl.
To sum up, while the actors have performed well, the film needed a more trimmed and pacy screenplay. Compared with director Neeraj Pandey’s action thrillers, this film falls short. More was expected from it, given the pedigree of the lead actors, but it can only be called an underwhelming effort at best.