Rustom Movie Review

Ameet Bhuvan

Half an hour into Rustom, one almost wishes the stern robotic expression on Akshay’s face to give way to a sly smile and the whole cast go screaming “Surprise, we were messing with you” and the real film began. Alas, that doesn’t happen, and for the next two odd hours Akshay Kumar and his white spotless wrinkle less uniform takes us on a tedious exasperating and unintentionally funny ride.

Based on the infamous Nanavati case that single handedly sounded the death knell for jury system in India, Rustom is a weirdly made film that believes in over dramatization and unnecessary hyperbole. Every department of the film is guilty of excess- be it the severely saturated colour tone, the over made up extras outside the court, the over smart dialogues trying too hard to sound witty, to the loud jarring and insipid music of the movie. To add to this is the unbelievably hammy turn by even consummate actors like Sachin Khedekar and Kumud Mishra.

Despite being based on material that naturally lends its self to some potentially interesting drama, Rustom comes across as spoofing its own self- until you realize that this is no smart self-mockery of a device. Leaving one, but of course, flabbergasted at how exactly does someone mess up so bad.

What makes matters worse is the fact that none of the characters are written with enough meat in them- Arjan Bajwa’s playboy is unconvincing; less due to his cold turkey turn and more due to the lacklustre writing that propped him up. Same is the case with Ileana who dolls up and sits through the film, teary eyed with a blank expression. Esha Gupta seems to be practising 01 ways to pout between two words even as Akshay Kumar walks, sits, talks sternly like his life depended on it.

There is however some unintended hilarity in there, that keeps one amused for some time. However, this is not enough to sail the movie through. The Nanavati case deserved a better telling. We deserved a better movie. Period. 

Rating: 3/5