Calling a BAD FILM a BAD FILM!!!. Review on Agnivarsha

I should have trusted my instinct of watching a promo for the 1st time & almost 99% of the time figuring out how the film will be, how much success it will be at the box office & stuff. I cant explain it in words, u gotta ask my sis for that. And the 1st time I saw the promo of Agnivarsha I thought why would anyone wanna watch a film like that. I should have stuck to my instinct. But then I also live in the age when Media is ruling us. So the hype about it kept pouring it. Then the 2nd promo looked like the film mite have a plot too. Then I being a b'lore had lotsa reason to see the film. the director Arjun Sajnani is THE Theatre Director of B'lore making his debut. The film is based on a play written by Girish Karnad(another distinguished b'lorean) THE FIRE & THE RAIN which I think is one of the most successful plays in the history of theatre in this part of the world. It was a success in NY too I been told. Infact I was one of the guys who had to face ' U havnt seen the play' look from lotsa people in my college days. Then the PR Agency did an excellent job of promoting the film. There was casting coup of sorts including a special appearance of the BIG B. Basically the film looked like a 'HATKE' film which had some stars acting in it. I am a sucker for anything alternative in Indian Cinema. And from experience I can tell u the worst offbeat cinema still can teach a thing or two about films to the biggest blockbusters of Bollywood.

Strangely the review of the film was up on Rediff.com a day before its release(god work PR guyz) which had quite a favourable things to say. Then on Saturday UDITI JHUNJHUNWALA of MIDDAY( my fav newspaper since I arrived in bombay) wrote a review of the film saying favourable things about the film. And my room mate who is also from b'lore & who has had the pleasure of watching the play had been saying all along that the play was the best he had ever seen on stage & that it will be very difficult to make a entertaining film out of it. I showed him the MID DAY review & he also changed his mind.

We we embarked on our journey along with anther b'lore dude to watch AGNIVARSHA. What happened for the next 2 hours simply bamboozled me.

1st I wholly agree with my friend it was excellent stuff for a play but shouldnt have been adapted on screen.

One more thing was that I failed to notice the similarity in the review of MID DAY & REDIFF. U can say that they really liked the film ....but it wasn't that. Either they were promoting the film(which is the equivalent of match-fixing in cricket for me) or they were just 2 pseudos who feared ripping apart a film like agnivarsha. Both can be disapointing 'coz both r my fav places to read for news & articles. UDITI if u read this plz explain. U let me down.

Both almost said the same things like Milind Soman has finally learned some acting. The problem is that Milind just isnt made out for acting. He mite have worked hard but he is just bad. The only thing I was scared of in the film was the length of Milind's role. And guess what he is the main character in the film almost occupying the screen throughout the film. BTW I have nothing against Milind. He has been a fav model but I feel he can never be a actor.

The film proved one more thing. Great Cinematography can never make a film work if it doesnt have a strong screenplay. And screenplay isnt jst great shots from various angles. ANIL MEHTA was splendid with the camera but the film lacked soul.

Now the last nail on the coffin- SONGS. I dunno from where did the need for songs came up. And on top of that the songs were pathetic. And in the context of the film it becomes unbearable to sit through them. I watched a interview where Sajnani said- ''I have included songs as in commercial hindi films, so I hope it should appeal to a wider audience''. I couldn't believe it. A guy with so much experience & respect could possibly have said such a thing. Was he expecting a fluke like Kaho Na Pyar Hai with the help of the song & dance? I think Arjun had so much power that he could have made the film without the songs but he didnt & compromised. I would rather watch a film like FREAKY CHAKRA by another b'lorean Prakash -a unknown in terms of fame compared to Arjun but who had the balls to make a movie he believed in.

The acting was average. Nagarjuna had amazing screen presence. His 15 mins is the only interesting part in the film. Sadly YAVAKRI - his character dies & so does the film with him. Which reminds me of 1 more similarity between those 2 reviews where it was mentioned that finally Nagarjuna's hindi dialogue delivery gets it right just like Milind's acting. Which was far from the truth. Its no different from what it was in Shiva or any of his previous hindi film. But his personality makes up for it.

Jackie hardly had much to do in the film except for look helpless.

RAVEENA looks sizzling hot in the film . She acts well too. But u will be mesmerised by her beauty.

Sonali as was expected walks through her role making one feel why others cant act. She is one hell of an actress.

Milind ....well

Amitabh has 2 scenes. He is INDRA. Did Indra have beard?

In short -

Agnivarsha is best for theatre ....it lost its grandiose on the big sreen....besides the songs screws up whatever patience u have left while watching the film....it will fail commercially I think...& pseudos will keep praising it sky high. So BEWARE!!!!