By Neha Ravindran
Movie: Rustom
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Cast: Illeana D’Çruz, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Bajwa, Esha Gupta
Genre: Thriller
I am huge fan of biopics or movies inspired from true incidents. In 1959 a murder case rocked the city of Bombay. A naval officer KM Nanavati, killed his wife’s lover and surrendered to the police willingly. Only, he pled ‘not guilty’. Neeraj Pandey is well known for his thrillers like Wednesday and Baby. And with Rustom, he has clearly proved that he is a director who is passionate about film-making and is here to stay.
Rustom Pavri (Akshay Kumar) a naval officer returns home from an assignment to find his wife has not come home for two days. He discovers that his wife Cynthia (Illeana D’Çruz) is having an affair with his friend, Vikram Makhija ( Arjun Bajwa) a known industrialist. Rustom goes to Vikram’s bunglow, takes out his service revolver and shoots thrice at Vikram killing him instantly. Then he goes and willingly surrendered himself to the police. The plot to this simple open and shut homicide case thickens when the surrendered officer Nanavati pleads not guilty when presented in court. Will he be able to resume a life again or will he be betrayed again by fate?
Rustom in every way will win your heart. I have often been miffed by the director’s hurry to set the plotline, sacrificing important parts of a story. The end result is a botched up sequence which leaves one wondering, what really happened. Though Neeraj sets the plotline within the first 10 minutes of the movie, it proceeds carefully and with clarity. Akshay Kumar looks dashing in his role of a Naval officer. He has stepped up to the role of Nanavati and captured the grief of a man battling betrayal, anger and jealousy. Illena DÇruz is beautiful as Cynthia. She has portrayed the different shades of the character splendidly, gliding through one scene to another in her chiffon sarees and a nose reddened deep red by crying. A well thought of casting is reflected in all the supporting actros of the movie like Esha Gupta, Sachin Khdekar, Usha Nadkarni etc.
Music by the team, Ankit Tiwari, Jeet Ganguly, Raghav Sachar and Arko Pravo Mukherjee, is already a favourite with the masses. My favourite tunes are ‘Tere Sang Yaaran’ and ‘Dekha Hazaaron Dafaá’. Lyrics by Manoj Muntashir will make you fall in love all over again. The only one major low in the movie is the courtroom scenes. Humour has been unnecessarily induced into the movie at points where it could have been totally avoided. The first half of the movie will not let you take your eyes off the screen. The second part is quite gripping overlooking the forced humour during the court trial. I could see glimpses of the movie ‘12 Angry Men’ in the jury discussion scenes, though it was too brief to be paid any attention to.
Peeps this weekend is certainly a treat to remember. Happy long weekend!!
MY VERDICT: ****
