Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Amit Sadh, Atul Kulkarni, Smita Jaykar, Mukesh Hariawala, Konkana Sen Sharma, Mishiekka Arora
Director: A.R. Murugadoss
Story: Santha Kunar Screenplay: Santha Kumar and A.R. Murugadoss Dialogues (Hindi): Karan Singh Rathore
Music: Vishal-Shekhar Background Score: John Stewart Eduri
Duration: 139 minutes
Imagine yourself as a village kid, who is intently looking forward to attend the upcoming ‘mela’ (fair), as he has heard about the new joy ride, which is expected to be the crowd puller of the season. In his mind, all he can spell is, the usual ‘masti’ (fun) plus a brand new ride!
Now, imagine his dismay, when he actually goes to the ‘mela’ and finds out that, apart from the new joy ride, all the other rides are absent, including the free-for-all swings and see-saws! Also, the new ride comes with a catch. The ride duration is considerably less than the usual ones!
This is exactly how I felt upon watching ‘Akira’.
Being a product of A.R. Murugadoss, the maverick director of action thrillers (Ghajini, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty), and being enacted by Sonakshi Sinha, the A-lister, tall, stoic and healthy Bollywood heroine, who looks natural enough to punch a pack or two when required, ‘Akira’ was expected to be a high energy action thriller, with enough adrenaline pumping fight sequences, and an intelligent story weave. Instead, it turned out to be a low budget action film, with the storyline, mostly leading towards the action, and not actually displaying the action!
‘Akira’ is an official remake of the Tamil film ‘Mouna Guru’ by Santha Kumar, wherein, the protagonist was a male actor.
Akira Sharma (Mishiekka Arora), a fearless, self reliant and strong opposer of anything wrong, is well assessed by her deaf, dumb but wise father (Atul Kulkarni), who chooses to enroll her to a martial arts class, rather than a dance class in Jodhpur. Her mother (Smita Jaykar) is the usual run-of-the-mill town lady.
In her bid to teach some hoodlums a lesson, Akira enters into a fight with them, and in her self defence, she accidentally spills some acid on one of their faces. In spite of the fact that, the acid bottle belonged to the victim lad, and even the acid attack was initiated by him, Akira ends up spending three years in a Child Remand Home!
Upon reaching the college going age, Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) and her mother (father is now deceased) are made to shift base to Mumbai, by her brother, who is already settled there with his spouse and a newly born baby. His brother-in-law Sidharth (Amit Sadh) is also putting up with them, on a temporary basis.
Upon sensing a non-friendly environment, Akira chooses to stay in the college hostel, and this is where she faces trouble from a rowdy student gang, and eventually a group of four corrupt cops. The cops brigade is headed by ACP Rane (Anurag Kashyap), the evil cop who doesn’t think twice before doing anything unlawful or sinful.
In their sheer greed for big money, these cops commit a crime, and mistake Akira for someone else. Things boil down to such a point that, serious attempts are made, to encounter her! Finally, she is disposed in a government run mental asylum, and given inhuman electric shocks, so as to turn her into a vegetable, and brand her as delusional!
Alongside, a heavily pregnant SP Rabia (Konkona Sen Sharma), a woman of small physical stature but steely resolve is assigned to solve a young lady’s (mistress of ACP Rane) suicide case. Slowly but sure footedly, she manages to join the dots and draws the big picture, which entails the aforesaid suicide, the cops and their big crime, the college principal (Mukesh Hariawala), and finally Akira.
In the meantime, Akira, whose name translates in Sanskrit as ‘graceful strength’, turns from being a resilient, aloof and confused girl, to an angry, hard hitting and self-defending warrior.
Rest of the story entails, consequent captures and running aways of Akira, till all the evils are put to rest, and she ends up sacrificing some more period of her life, staying in captivity, for the general good!
A movie sans the usual songs, dance, romance, and elaborate sets, needs to have an ultra crisp storyline, and enough thought provoking executions. Sadly, though ‘Akira’ has some juicy female action, it still lacks the entertainment factor.
Even the action scenes are far paced and of considerably short duration. You end up waiting the full first half, and more than half of the second half, expecting Sonakshi to turn 360° like an Uma Thurman or an Angelina Jolie, and evolve as a lady full of wit, shrewdness and confidence, and go bang-bang on the baddies and every other evil soul that falls in her way. But instead, you come across a physically strong, but mentally naive and unsuspecting girl, who keeps on going to the wrong people and places!
The movie tries to establish a slight romantic angle between Sonakshi and Amit Sadh, which falls flat on the face. Music as such, in the typical ‘hindi gaana’ style is absent, not that the storyline required any.
Though the film’s main portrayal are the consequent attempts of mental and physical breaking of Akira, thankfully, there are no gruesome depictions of exploitation, violation or brutality. The director has conducted his scenes wonderfully in a restrained environment, wherein you do get the gist of the matter, but are not left feeling repulsive.
Actingwise - Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sen Sharma are excellent. Sonakshi looks quite natural as an angry fighter. She has well trained for this role, and played it sans any botheration of camera angles. It’s difficult to imagine that this is Anurag’s first attempt as a mainstream villain. The otherwise director, is quite natural in his inning as an actor, and has displayed the required cold blooded evil, without any exaggerated effort or costume drama. Konkona is extremely believable in her stance as a heavily pregnant woman. Mishiekka Arora, the child actor has also acted well. Also, she is a great find by the casting team, as her body-type and caricature, quite well matches that of Sonakshi’s own. Other actors have also worked well.
But, why on earth is Konkana shown such pot-bellied pregnant? Was it to underline the fact that ‘naari shakti’ or woman power, can be brought to play by a fit bodied, tall, stoic, agile and martial art trained girl, as well as a, short, petite, heavily pregnant, and sharp brained woman?
Last but not the least, this movie deserved a little more of Anurag’s and Konkona’s drama scenes, and much more of Sonakshi’s actions scenes.
Director: A.R. Murugadoss
Story: Santha Kunar Screenplay: Santha Kumar and A.R. Murugadoss Dialogues (Hindi): Karan Singh Rathore
Music: Vishal-Shekhar Background Score: John Stewart Eduri
Duration: 139 minutes
Imagine yourself as a village kid, who is intently looking forward to attend the upcoming ‘mela’ (fair), as he has heard about the new joy ride, which is expected to be the crowd puller of the season. In his mind, all he can spell is, the usual ‘masti’ (fun) plus a brand new ride!
Now, imagine his dismay, when he actually goes to the ‘mela’ and finds out that, apart from the new joy ride, all the other rides are absent, including the free-for-all swings and see-saws! Also, the new ride comes with a catch. The ride duration is considerably less than the usual ones!
This is exactly how I felt upon watching ‘Akira’.
Being a product of A.R. Murugadoss, the maverick director of action thrillers (Ghajini, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty), and being enacted by Sonakshi Sinha, the A-lister, tall, stoic and healthy Bollywood heroine, who looks natural enough to punch a pack or two when required, ‘Akira’ was expected to be a high energy action thriller, with enough adrenaline pumping fight sequences, and an intelligent story weave. Instead, it turned out to be a low budget action film, with the storyline, mostly leading towards the action, and not actually displaying the action!
‘Akira’ is an official remake of the Tamil film ‘Mouna Guru’ by Santha Kumar, wherein, the protagonist was a male actor.
Akira Sharma (Mishiekka Arora), a fearless, self reliant and strong opposer of anything wrong, is well assessed by her deaf, dumb but wise father (Atul Kulkarni), who chooses to enroll her to a martial arts class, rather than a dance class in Jodhpur. Her mother (Smita Jaykar) is the usual run-of-the-mill town lady.
In her bid to teach some hoodlums a lesson, Akira enters into a fight with them, and in her self defence, she accidentally spills some acid on one of their faces. In spite of the fact that, the acid bottle belonged to the victim lad, and even the acid attack was initiated by him, Akira ends up spending three years in a Child Remand Home!
Upon reaching the college going age, Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) and her mother (father is now deceased) are made to shift base to Mumbai, by her brother, who is already settled there with his spouse and a newly born baby. His brother-in-law Sidharth (Amit Sadh) is also putting up with them, on a temporary basis.
Upon sensing a non-friendly environment, Akira chooses to stay in the college hostel, and this is where she faces trouble from a rowdy student gang, and eventually a group of four corrupt cops. The cops brigade is headed by ACP Rane (Anurag Kashyap), the evil cop who doesn’t think twice before doing anything unlawful or sinful.
In their sheer greed for big money, these cops commit a crime, and mistake Akira for someone else. Things boil down to such a point that, serious attempts are made, to encounter her! Finally, she is disposed in a government run mental asylum, and given inhuman electric shocks, so as to turn her into a vegetable, and brand her as delusional!
Alongside, a heavily pregnant SP Rabia (Konkona Sen Sharma), a woman of small physical stature but steely resolve is assigned to solve a young lady’s (mistress of ACP Rane) suicide case. Slowly but sure footedly, she manages to join the dots and draws the big picture, which entails the aforesaid suicide, the cops and their big crime, the college principal (Mukesh Hariawala), and finally Akira.
In the meantime, Akira, whose name translates in Sanskrit as ‘graceful strength’, turns from being a resilient, aloof and confused girl, to an angry, hard hitting and self-defending warrior.
Rest of the story entails, consequent captures and running aways of Akira, till all the evils are put to rest, and she ends up sacrificing some more period of her life, staying in captivity, for the general good!
A movie sans the usual songs, dance, romance, and elaborate sets, needs to have an ultra crisp storyline, and enough thought provoking executions. Sadly, though ‘Akira’ has some juicy female action, it still lacks the entertainment factor.
Even the action scenes are far paced and of considerably short duration. You end up waiting the full first half, and more than half of the second half, expecting Sonakshi to turn 360° like an Uma Thurman or an Angelina Jolie, and evolve as a lady full of wit, shrewdness and confidence, and go bang-bang on the baddies and every other evil soul that falls in her way. But instead, you come across a physically strong, but mentally naive and unsuspecting girl, who keeps on going to the wrong people and places!
The movie tries to establish a slight romantic angle between Sonakshi and Amit Sadh, which falls flat on the face. Music as such, in the typical ‘hindi gaana’ style is absent, not that the storyline required any.
Though the film’s main portrayal are the consequent attempts of mental and physical breaking of Akira, thankfully, there are no gruesome depictions of exploitation, violation or brutality. The director has conducted his scenes wonderfully in a restrained environment, wherein you do get the gist of the matter, but are not left feeling repulsive.
Actingwise - Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sen Sharma are excellent. Sonakshi looks quite natural as an angry fighter. She has well trained for this role, and played it sans any botheration of camera angles. It’s difficult to imagine that this is Anurag’s first attempt as a mainstream villain. The otherwise director, is quite natural in his inning as an actor, and has displayed the required cold blooded evil, without any exaggerated effort or costume drama. Konkona is extremely believable in her stance as a heavily pregnant woman. Mishiekka Arora, the child actor has also acted well. Also, she is a great find by the casting team, as her body-type and caricature, quite well matches that of Sonakshi’s own. Other actors have also worked well.
But, why on earth is Konkana shown such pot-bellied pregnant? Was it to underline the fact that ‘naari shakti’ or woman power, can be brought to play by a fit bodied, tall, stoic, agile and martial art trained girl, as well as a, short, petite, heavily pregnant, and sharp brained woman?
Last but not the least, this movie deserved a little more of Anurag’s and Konkona’s drama scenes, and much more of Sonakshi’s actions scenes.
1 comment:
That's a perfect review.. Akira falls flat on entertaining audience.
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