Cinema (or for that matter any art form!) may not have the power to change social mindset. But it certainly has the power to bring more awareness about various social complexities. Prakash Jha has always used his cinema to do the same. His UP-Bihar-centric films have almost always been loosely based on real life events or characters and they have made a caustic commentary on issues like casteism, feudalism, socio-political corruption, gender inequality and class divide. Quite commendably, he has managed to package his social messages through totally commercial kind of cinema.

 

This time around Jha chooses another burning topic of the growing menace of Naxalism or Maoism, an anti-government armed resistance movement apparently run by and run for the displaced or disadvantaged peasants.

 

What’s the plot?

 

Adil Khan, a tough, incorruptible cop (Arjun Rampal) is given the responsibility of wiping out a rampaging Naxalite movement in a Northern Indian state. His most important targets are Rajan (Manoj Bajpai), the principled but ruthless leader running the armed wing and Professor Govind (Om Puri), the ideologue of the movement. Faced with the challenge of recurrent ambushes and total lack of intelligence information, Adil reluctantly accepts his closest friend Kabir’s (Abhay Deol) suggestion and sends him to infiltrate into the Naxalite group. But when Kabir becomes the part of the outlawed outfit, he starts seeing the other side of the coin. The apparently heartless armed fugitives are indeed fighting for a cause, that of the poor and the down-trodden whose lands are being grabbed by an unholy nexus between insensitive industrialists and corrupt politicians. As Kabir slowly comes to understand and accept the revolutionary ideology, it is inevitable that the best of the friends would now turn into worst of the enemies. Will they understand each other’s viewpoint once again?

 

What’s hot?

 

·         As usual, Jha manages to capture the earthy atmosphere rather well.

 

·         His patented large canvas mob scenes and action scenes come off well.

 

·         His narrative is balanced and neatly brings out the arguments of both sides.

 

·         The music is good.

 

What’s not?

 

·         The film becomes too dry as human emotions take the back-seat in the narrative, which is focused mainly on portraying various angles of the core social issue.

 

·         The actors do their best but no performance leaves a mark.

 

·         The story is predictable as it is a rehash of the Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic Namak Haram, which in turn was inspired by a famous French play Becket.

 

Verdict

 

In Chakravyuh,  Jha succeeds in presenting the how and why of the Naxalite movement. But thanks to a predictable story-line, tepid performances and a weak emotional core, it does not rise beyond an average entertainer.