Shridhar Savadatti

It was an average watch. I went in with a lot of expectations from Pankaj Tripathi and his portrayal of one of the greatest statesmen - Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Over the years I have been a great admirer of Pankaj Tripathi's acting. But Atal somehow didn't feel like it was his best. However, nobody could have played the role of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Coming to the movie itself, it was slow to start with (heard a few snores during the first half). In addition, many of the moments were missed. Notably, the screens are drawn after the Kargil victory, post which, Vajpayee was the first Non Congress PM to complete full term. So obviously, none of the notable events (like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other effective policies, 2001 attacks, 2002 Godhra etc) during his full PM tenure are covered. At many election sequences, it is not shown "how" Vajpayee came on top. Elections are announced in one shot, and in the next, Vajpayee is taking oath. So left a lot to be desired there too. However, Vajpayee the poet is covered well enough. The casting of support charcters - Lal Bahadur Shastri, MM Joshi, LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, (Did I even spot Modi there? No direct reference) looks very convincing.

The movie promotes illegal immigration. It shows if you can't enter a foreign nation by the process laid out, then you can just find your way to force your way to it and get political asylum. Four of the main characters of the movie illegally enter a country. And three of them even go an and get its citizenship just by saying they don't feel safe in their home country. In the end, when they are obviously denied visa to return to their country of birth, they again find crooked ways to enter. I'm sorry, the MEA is a joke? Coming to the acting, SRK, Tapsee have managed their roles well enough. The two guys who played Tapsee's friends' roles also did their jobs. I usually enjoy Hirani's direction. But this was a bizarre to say the least.