Santoshi back in form with ‘Halla Bol’
11 January 2008 | Movies, Movie Reviews | No Comments
Halla Bol is a typical Santoshi product, which re-opens wounds, is raw and hard-hitting and has life-like situations, with a saviour who pricks your conscience. Frankly, Halla Bol is, without an iota of doubt, a film that reflects the current times. You can easily draw parallels with real life. Of course, there're cinematic liberties; it's not a dry film.
Ashfaque [Ajay Devgan] is a small-town boy aspiring to be a film star in the Hindi film industry. He joins a street theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu [Pankaj Kapur], who uses street theatre as a medium to bring about an awakening in the masses. Ashfaque's determined struggle pays off and he gets a break in films. He gets a new screen name — Sameer Khan. With the passage of time, the roles start becoming better and he moves up the success ladder in a very short time. Soon, he becomes Sameer Khan the superstar — one who can enact any role with finesse, get under the skin of any and every character with ease and walk away with audience applause.
Sadly, amidst all adulation and applause, he slowly loses his own identity. He forgets his real self and imbibes all characteristics of the various roles essayed by him on screen. Corruption takes over his entire system, alienating him from all loved ones, including his wife Sneha [Vidya Balan].
A shocking incident at a party changes everything, rocking Sameer's lifestyle. He gets caught between his human self on one side and his corrupted superstar image on the other. …
What starts off as a movie about a self-obsessed star changes tracks within 20 minutes of the start, when the rich, spoilt brats shoot a young girl at a well-attended party and everyone stands there as mute spectators. The sequence is simply hair-raising! The gradual change in Ajay's attitude is also well built and the film actually gathers momentum at the intermission point when Ajay decides to testify against the culprits. But the story actually takes off after the intermission when Ajay, aided by Pankaj Kapur, wages a war against the unscrupulous elements. …
Every performance in Halla Bol stays etched in your memory. Ajay proves yet again that he's a magnificent actor. He conveys a lot through his expressions. Here's yet another award-worthy performance from one of the finest actors of the country. Vidya's role may not be as substantial as Ajay and Pankaj Kapur, but she's fiery in the sequences. Pankaj is awesome yet again. A power-packed performance. In fact, he's to Halla Bol what Sunny Deol was to Damini. Darshan Jariwala is superb, changing expressions like a chameleon.
The film has a host of stars making appearances, which include Tusshar Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sridevi and Boney Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Neeraj Vora and Aarti Chhabria.
On the whole, Halla Bol is a powerful film that has its heart in the right place. ….read more
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