Sanju
Year: 2018
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Raval, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Anushka Sharma

When Rajkumar Hirani, arguably the best Bollywood director in the last 25 years, first announced that he was making a biopic on Sanjay Dutt’s life, the rumor mills had gone into overdrive speculating about which chapters from Sanju-Baba’s colorful life would make the cut in the film. Now finally Sanju is out in the theatres and the cat is out of the bag.

Making a biopic, not as a serious documentary but as a part-fictionalized commercial film- has its own advantages. One can skip certain parts, one can modify certain parts and one can highlight certain parts. Hirani, who was inspired to make this film after listening to Sanjay Dutt’s life-story from the actor himself, uses that creative license well to deliver an entertaining piece of cinema, giving us a peek into a seriously outrageous life and character. Sanju definitely sympathizes with the flawed man it is depicting but it doesn’t spare him either.

What’s the plot?

So we see Sanju as a shy debutant actor, a teenager totally in awe of his illustrious parents, who gets waylaid by bad company and starts taking drugs. A romantic heartbreak and the trauma of losing his mother to cancer only serve to make the drug problem worse, which even his best friend cannot convince him to quit. The father steps in and sends him to a rehab facility in the US. After a 5 year-long battle against drugs, Sanju comes back and tastes success as a star. But then there is yet another twist in the tale. He is arrested for possession of AK-56 assault rifle and is booked under the anti-terrorist act- TADA. Overnight, the hero turns into a villain. The father bears the brunt of his son’s follies and running from pillar to post, he keeps fighting cases to get a reprieve. Out on a bail, Sanju gets the Munnabhai role, which resurrects his flailing career. Even though the court frees him of the terrorism charges, the arms possession lands him in jail once again! The rollercoaster ride continues!

What’s hot and what’s not?

Writer Abhijat Joshi and co-writer-director Raju Hirani don’t hide Sanju’s smoking, snorting, drinking, womanizing bad boy image but they also reveal his likeable, vulnerable human side. After a rather unsure beginning, where the narration seems rather frivolous and playing to the gallery, the film settles down into a sensitive, touching storytelling. The father-son bonding and the best buddy bonding have been beautifully handled.

In the title role, Ranbir Kapoor once again proves how good an actor he is. He imbibes Sanjay Dutt’s persona. Physically he almost becomes Sanju! It is an energetic and heartfelt portrayal but at times, it is marred by excessive Sanju-mannerisms.

As Sanju’s US-based Gujju best friend, Vicky Kaushal delivers a performance that is as good if not better than Ranbir’s. This character is apparently an amalgamation of few of Sanju’s close friends, but is mostly based on his US-based friend Paresh Ghelani.

Jim Sarabh makes his presence felt as Sanju’s drug-peddling friend. Dia Mirza as Sanjay’s wife Manyata is impressive despite a miniscule role but Sonam Kapoor and Anushka Sharma don’t have much to boast about their small roles. Even Manisha Koirala as Nargis is barely passable.

The major disappointment is the casting of Paresh Raval. As a loving father going all out to help his wayward son, Raval is good in general but he does not look or sound like the late Sunil Dutt (a tall, handsome Punjabi with a baritone voice!) at all.

The songs and choreography don’t gel that well in the flow.

Verdict

Sanju is not a whole point by point biography, rather some excerpts from a racy, raunchy, rough life, tailored to suit popular taste. There is a definite agenda of sharing Sanju’s version of the controversial events in his life; the scenes and the dialogues make no secret of that.

The sceptics and critics have not taken too kindly to this much filtered, doctored (?) filmi version and there is no dearth of name-calling and boycott-demanding against the movie as well as the movie-maker.

How true to reality this biopic is remains a moot point, what is clear is that Rajkumar Hirani has once again created an engaging, entertaining blockbuster, which makes you laugh, cry and empathize! It is certainly not his best film but is still good enough to make the audiences lap it up eagerly, making it the biggest box-office opener of 2018.

Rating

3.5 stars