Rangoon Movie Review -  Visual delight, amazing performances but a confused story line

Divay Agarwal

The much-awaited Rangoon hits theaters today but the question here is that does it really meet the expectations one has from a Vishal Bhardwaj film? The answer is probably a no. Omkara or Haider fans might just come out disappointed with the movie but does this fact out rule the possibility of a one-time watch. Definitely not! It sure offers a spectacular visual experience combined with some fabulous performances from Kangana and Shahid despite the slow, lagging and a confused story line.

Rangoon opens up with a war sequence during the World War II. It is set in 1943, where along with the World War II, Quit India Movement by Gandhi was in full swing and also Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose fighting through INA. Amidst all this, there’s Rusi Billimoria (Saif Ali Khan), one-armed magnate and former action star who now owns a studio in which his discovery and love Julia (Kangana Ranaut) has become the leading action star and the darling of the masses. Rusi sends her away to Burma to perform for the Indian soldiers in the British Army and for her protection an Indian soldier Jamadar Nawab Malik (Shahid Kapoor) is appointed. During their journey to Burma, they are attacked and Julia and Nawab are stranded away in a war-torn jungle and fall in love with each other. But there are loads and loads of problems already on their way. Will they be able to unite amidst all the difficulties?

This film has most of the Vishal Bhardwaj elements when it comes to technicalities, the dark tone, the lighting, the camerawork, the music and especially the writing of the film. But the major difference between his earlier works and this one is that it rests less on symbolism and more directly on plot and plot or the screenplay is where the film lacks. The characters are not very well defined. It’s like Vishal tried too much with different settings and parallel stories of war, freedom struggle, love and relationships all running together. Also, the film should have been cut by easy 20 mins as the felt far too stretched and too slow to bear at a few moments.

Though full credits to Pankaj Kumar for the exceptionally shot film. The aerial shots, war sequences are a delight to watch. However, the special effects/VFX team played a spoilsport as they were poorly done and distracted the audience in the major scenes.

The music by Vishal enhanced by the poetic lyrics of Gulzar made the songs a pleasure to watch and listen to. As in every Vishal movie, the songs suit the mood and the story of the film and therefore the become more and more enjoyable. Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana which was rewritten by Bose also makes way into the film.

Talking about the performances, Kangana as Julia steals the show and gives yet another brilliant performance. Shahid is intense as Nawab Malik and does a decent job. However, it’s no Haider or Kaminey. Also, the chemistry between Shahid and Kangana was missing. Even Saif did was average as Rusi and his character didn’t seem much layered. Special mention to Saharsh Shukla as Zulfi and British actor Richard McCabe for their good performances.

Bottom line:

In all, the movie definitely deserves a one-time watch though it is not an exceptional piece of cinema like other Vishal Bhardwaj’s film.

Rating: 3/5

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