Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Dharma (Duty) is not what others decide for you, it is what your heart and mind guide you to do! Vidhu Vinod Chopra has based his Eklavya on this philosophy. Unlike Eklavya of Mahabharata, who had presented his right hand thumb as a Guru-Dakshina to Dronacharya, this modern-day Eklavya when faced with a similar situation, chooses the path of his heart rather than what the world expects of him.
In a beautiful amalgamation of a traditional and contemporary India, Eklavya brings to life picturesque Rajashthan on screen for an exotic movie experience. Eklavya is the story of a royal guard (Amitabh Bachchan), whose family has protected royal dynasty of Devigarh, for nine generations. He is sworn to protect the fort, its inhabitants and their safely guarded secrets. He has been made to believe that that is his duty (Dharma) even at the cost of his and his loved ones lives. The movie is set in modern times and is the story of an once royal family that still lives in the hangover of yesteryear's splendour. After the Queen's (Sharmila Tagore) untimely death, Prince Harshwardhan (Saif Ali Khan) returns from London for her last rites. However the place he once called home is now a whirlpool of chaos, confusion, deceit, betrayal and blood-shed. A family skeleton is revealed which if made public could shake the very roots of the Harshwardhan dynasty. Plans are made in order to protect this secret and bodies begin to pile up. As audiences, we are deftly guided from one crime scene to another until the motive behind these acts is revealed. This is when Eklavya is faced with a life changing moment and has to decide whether he should follow his heart or what his previous generations have taught him. The movie, in the end, does answer the question it asks in the beginning. Was Eklavya in Mahabharata correct? The answer is there for all to see.
Amitabh Bachchan is once again impeccable as the main lead of the film. He makes you forget Amitabh Bachchan, the star and what you see is Eklavya, the royal guard. He breathes, walks, talks the role perfectly. One interesting point to be noted is that you will find his impressive presence in almost all frames, even though he might be simply standing far in the corner. This is certainly something he has never done before. Another feather in his cap!
Saif Ali Khan gives a very mature and earnest performance. His scenes with Amitabh Bachchan are noteworthy. He stands tallest among all supporting cast. Sanjay Dutt, as DSP Pannalal Chohar, brings light moments in the movie by his sheer dialog delivery. He is very lovable. Vidya Balan looks beautiful and acts her part of Rajjo, Saif's beloved, well. Raima Sen impresses as the mentally challenged Nandini, Saif's twin sister. Boman Irani is a bit over the top. I have always said he is best in comic roles but can't pull it off when it comes to serious roles. Jackie Shroff, in a Mission Kashmir redux, delivers an intense performance as Rana Jyotivardhan, jealous and greedy brother of the King. Jimmy Shergill shows a lot of attitude as a rich brat in a small but significant role. Sharmila Tagore looks old yet graceful in a guest appearance as the dying Queen. Parikshit Shahni didn't have much to do as Vidya's father, but unlike Umrao Jaan he manages not to screw up.
The beauty of Eklavya lies in its short length (under 2 hours), tight editing, amazing visuals and strong characters. Vidhu Vinod Chopra gets an A for wisely choosing his actors who do justice to the well-etched characters of the story. Screenplay by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijit Joshi is world class and there is not a single scene you would think as unnecessary. The movie wastes no time in going right to the heart of the story and keeps your attention throughout. It's like the director was crystal clear in his vision, which he executed to perfection.
Art direction by Nitin Desai is brilliant. He has successfully provided an imperial look to the palace and captured a very beautiful Rajasthan. S Natarajan Subramaniam's cinematography is plain awesome. Watch out for the scene where a drop of sweat falls from Amitabh's forehead on the rail track and vaporizes immediately by the heat. Superb! Some of the sequences are so spell-binding, you will take them with you even after the show is over. Most notably - the pigeon sequence in the beginning and the train-camel action sequence just before the intermission. Tinu Verma shoots an awesome edge-of-the-seat dramatic action sequence involving a passing train and hundreds of camels. Background score by Shantanu Moitra adds major punch to the narrative. Dialogues by Swanand Kirkire might sound heavy at times for an average movie goer.
To some movie goers the premise of the movie might seem archaic - a guard believing in his duty above everything else. However Chopra very articulately uses the definition of Dharma mentioned at the beginning to connect this "archaic premise" to modern school of thought. As an audience you get this revelation in the last few scenes of the movie. Had it stayed on course with this ancient doctrine, it would have been another run-of-the-mill movie. This is another one in the line of better movies coming out of Bollywood recently and deservingly gets my four stars.
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Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
I just came back after watching Eklavya. Audience gave a standing ovation and clapping at the end of the show. That speaks volumes about how wonderful this movie is.
Might not work with masses but who cares! It's a masterpiece.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Nice movie... deserves 5 stars...Next year awards getting reserved for Bachchans - Chhota B for Guru and Big B for Eklavya!!!
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
The movie was really good....its not one of those movies that over power you into believing they are good....it gives its message very subtly.....intelligent film making by VVChopra......also got to see the trailers of Munnabhai Chale America and Talisman (starring Amitabh in a Gandalf type role)
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
I don't know if you guys felt it.....but there was this feeling that why should I care about this guy.....the movie fails to connect with you emotionally.....Its a great movie, but comes up short in connecting with you.....the way Lage Raho Munnabhai or Rang De Basanti did.....I think this will hurt the movie's earnings.....but overall a great effort......
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Halllp-
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
If connecting with the movie makes it a hit or flop than all of Karan Johar's movies should be flops.....because I don't think many people connect themselves with the family in K3G that flies around in helicopters or the characters in KANK......its a fantasy make believe world and thats how it should be treated.....I think the story of Eklavya was very simple and presented in a great way.....it's getting accolades from foreign media which is probably the farthest when it comes to connecting with the movie.....
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Ravi, I don't totally agree with your comment on connecting with KJ's movies. Connecting is not only about identifying yourself with the characters of the movie. It has also to do with aspiring to be like them. Tell me, who would not want to fly in choppers. That's where KJ connects with people. Audience get involved in the larger than life on-goings. They want to be like those characters.
But that's not what happens with Eklavya. I mean, who in today's world wants to be a royal guard and who believes in all those dharma lectures. I guess, no one. Eklavya fails in that - audience neither identify themselves with the characters nor do they get invloved in those make believe fairy tale. They just don't care about whatz going on screen.
It's a great movie, no doubt, but as someone mentioned above, it does not touch your soul like Lage Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Eklayva has some great performances and was shot very beautifully. But, there are too many holes in the story which keep you from enjoying the experience. Overall, I was disappointed. I didn't like the way the story was narrated. The style gave away what was to come next and that was anti-climatic. The last 15-20 minutes were just unbearable and unacceptable from this banner.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
i read all of u guys review and i would like to say that this is fantastic movie and amitabh's performance is really very gud, once again he proved it....ASK SRK to watch it and learn something from him instead comparing himself to BIG B.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
My 2 cents are here:
http://www.ramchandra.me.uk/blog/archives/2007/02/eklavya_the_royal_guar...
Only BigB - I'm with you on this one.
Ravi - I disagree with what you say the same as Abhiwarya's comment.
Connecting with the character doesn't mean becoming them, it is empathy as well as a craving to 'want' to be in their position - with Eklavya I think the only character I related to was Sanju Baba.
as for ash - this is just fanboy talk, you haven't backed up your thoughts with anything, they are different artistes that respect each other, at least the fans should reflect similarly .. it's a shame this isn't the case .. & following this media backs up such fan attitude & puts both stars in an uncomfortable position .. fans of neither should do this if they are true fans, in my humble opinion.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
RamJaane - good review and a pretty neat site.
I agree with you that for a small film, the pace was slow and the lines were wordy....I would have loved some of Omkara type dialogues.....but anyways good different effort
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Romance in Celluloid without a Soul
Problem with Chopra is that though he knows the Language of Celluloid but he lacks the ability to connect with audience and engage them. The end Result is easy to predict, a good-looking movie that has great cinematography and art direction but lacks the Soul.
A great Star Cast and fresh storyline go wasted due to sluggish pace and confused style of story telling. The Movie has so many unfulfilled promises like it has a plot that could have explored so many gray and dark areas of human psyche but rather it ends as a movie that has moth-balled stereotypical roles. Nowhere the internal confrontations and conflicts of decaying royalty are explored, nowhere the impact of choices made by erstwhile maharajas to live in a time warp rather then in contemporary democratic world. Similarly, the conflicts of Saif and Bacchan were not brought out though that could have given the audience a real feast, as both of these actors are very much capable to bring out the most subtle and negative aspects of human psyche with a convincing authenticity. Only Boman Irani shows plausible portrayal of a Not-So-Royal Royalty and also successfully brings out the internal agony and turmoil that one will go through if ones responsibility to carry forward the VANSH is shouldered by a low-life servant.
Apart from that so many fine actors go wasted, as they were never challenged by the director. Jimmy Shergil and Jacky Shroff were given the stereotypical roles of money-hungry-all-evil bad guys. On the similar lines, Sanju Baba is wasted in a role that could have given voice and expression to the agony of all those Dalits that had suffered the torture and humiliation on the hands of so called benevolent royals.
Precious Seconds and Celluloid Reels are wasted on the scenes that doesn't do much to bring out the internal confusion and pain of characters (for example, the scene involving the murder of Shergill and the scene of Balan and Saif that involves nothing but inaudible whisperings) whereas various important conflicts are either not attended (such as conflict of Saif when he comes in term with the fact that Eklavya is his real Father) or attended with a casual attitude (the relationship between Sharmila and Bacchan).
So in the end we have a movie that had made Lofty Promises and desperately tried to live up to the Expectations But could not deliver.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Though a die hard Big B fan, i felt the punch was missing from the movie. By punch, i definetely do not mean action scenes or thrills. To some extent it failed to inspire and connect to audiences. Overall the movie was neat but the plot could have been much better.
I feel the main problem lies with the way the movie was marketed and projected. It was marketed as a royal thriller that promised plenty of action and thrilling plot. On the other hand, the movie started with the revealations that ended the suspense their itself. No doubt the acting were master pieces but VV Chopra can do much better job.
Re: Movie Review: Eklavya - The Royal Guard
Eklavya would not had been Eklavya if he had not made that gurudakshina.. While the film has an ideological flaw, it does well to capture tha antardwandwa in a different style.. Definately a watch !!
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