Tadka question – Is Halla Bol another winner from the stable of Rajkumar Santoshi? You bet it is! Click on ‘Read more’ to view the complete movie review.
Rajkumar Santoshi is back! And this time he has Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan along with the superbly talented Pankaj Kapoor in the lead. Halla Bol is one movie which comes in the spate of socially relevant flicks that have captured Bollywood in the recent past, like Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai. And even though one may like to beleive that Mr. Santoshi has given in to this ‘trend’, one cannot ignore the fact that long before RDB and LRM, it was Mr. Santoshi himself who made movies like Damini, which we remember very well till date.
Halla Bol is the story of a small town lad Ashfaque (Ajay Devgan), who dreams of making it big in the Hindi Film Industry. In order to inch towards his dream’s realization, he starts honing up his skills under the aegis of Sidhu (Pankaj Kapoor), a reformed dacoit, who uses his street theatre group to deliver socially relevant messages to the masses. Soon Ashfaque becomes a huge star wit the name of Sameer Khan. But soon after that his identity starts giving way to the characters that Sameer Khan portrays and morality takes, a toss. So much so, that wife Sneha (Vidya Balan) has to distance herself fromher man.
One fine evening, at a party, a gruesome incident shakes Ashaque to the hilt and thus begins the war of wrong v/s right, which Rajkumar Santoshi very finely displays in his movie. The second half shows Ashfaque as a person caught in the turmoil, and ready to be slaughtered by the big guns of the big bad world out there. Ajay Devgan, returns to his best form and Vidya Balan lends apt support in her performance which has to be lauded. But it is Pankaj Kapoor who, as always, surprises you with his ever-so-commendable performance and quite easily steals the show too. The songs in the movie are finely etched, and the camerawork is great too; and this is one movie which, if it doesn’t manage to do well commercially, (although we pray it does), would still be counted as a winner. Stars Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan and Pankaj Kapoor have added another gem to their portfolio. Watch out forthe special appearances too. Thanks to Rajkumar Santoshi, the year has begun well with for Bollywood. And we hope it keep getting better with each passing day.
