Sanju: The Wolf of Bollywood Street

Ohk!
Sanju is not a terrorist but he is a master filmmaker.

After contemplating for a very long time between whether to write on Sanju or just let people see it and make their own opinions about the film, I couldn't resist but to write about the most awaited movie of Bollywood of 2018 #SANJU; and its place in Indian Cinema.

Just the way Awards have lost their lustre in these years; from giving awards to legends like Late Kishor Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, R.D. Burman etc., now we see awards given to Roadies cum Actors and legacy actors. It's sad to see Bollywood lose the same lustre and rust in the name of Biopics like Sanju.

Sanju alone is a great film, great screenplay, great storytelling, the Midas touch of Raj Kumar Hirani (RKH) itself but somewhere the movie utterly fails.....the purpose!
Biopic culture of this industry is facing the same fate as 'Acche din'; over promised and under delivered.

Have you seen 'Rin' and 'Surf Excel' Ads? "Daag Acche Hain"
That is the motto of biopics, don't you think if a movie named 'Bhai' is released explaining Salman Khan's side of the story, in a few days; will that be surprising? No!
We will still go and watch it because 'Bhai ki picture to dekhna banta hai!'.

The only point here is we've seen Dhoni, Majhi, Paan Singh Tomar, Bhag Milkha Bhag, Padman etc., these films were so amazing because we all understand their pain, they were relatable. We cannot understand the pain of a star-son who struggles to be a star, which he already is. Instead after watching the movie it would have been preferred if RKH would have made Late Mr. Sunil Dutt's biopic for us, that would have made more sense. And we all would have loved Paresh Rawal playing that epic character.

Great men have walked this land and have left behind great stories for us and the world; even if that is not what we can achieve, Bollywood writers and storytellers have the capacity to pen down some extraordinary tales that can just be a masterpieces.

All we are now used to is watching contextual things and that too executed for the wrong reasons.

Biographies should not be stopped, they inspire a common man to live his life with more courage and confidence, but, we MUST stop their misuse.

There have been some great biographies made Man on the Moon, the Pursuit of Happiness, Chaplin played by our very own Robert DowneyJr.(RDJ) urf Iron Man.
Now if you haven't seen these masterpieces, they are highly recommended, not because 'RDJ ne kya acting kari hai bro!' but these movies are some great examples of good cinema.

The movie was not entirely a trash the silver lining of this film is Vicky Kaushal, he's an absolute delight to watch, it would not be wrong if we put it this way, in creating 'Sanju' as a character Ranbir Kapoor has given him his physicality but the soul has been given by Vicky Kaushal.

But there is a 'WHY' always lurking behind the back. We often forget to address the 'WHY?' of these movies. In India, have given it a backseat and now accept any crap thrown at us. 'Chaplin' was made to not show that persons struggle from 'rags to riches' but to show that when he became a star he made an effort to 'stop the war', a similar emotion felt by almost every individual at that time and that's 'why' the movie was relatable 'We all don't want wars'.

But Sanju is more of a personal agenda movie, it's almost like the whole Bollywood industry screaming at us and trying to convince us that 'Sanju's not a terrorist'.

Ohk, we get that!

But WHY *Question mark* SANJU *Question mark*

Is he a national hero? Is he a great politician? How many people have benefited because of Sanju's life? We need to see these questions and then qualify if a person is Biopic worthy!

Charlie Chaplin has an effect on my childhood, has Sanju affected a kid sitting in some remote area in South Africa? No, but Gandhi has, Bose has, Swami Vivekananda has, APJ Abdul Kalam has, Amitabh Bacchan to some extent has. But please not Sanju.

Cinema is a powerful medium and has the power to influence millions, stop using it as RIN or SURF trying to say 'Daag aache hain'; write a book instead, but not a movie please, spare the careers and creativity of more than 200+ people to create something that's just a fad and not even in national benefit.

It is entertaining and has all the nuances of an RKH film, but it lacks a purpose and that is what we look for here.

Hoping a better SUBJECT for Raj Kumar Hirani's next.

Until next time.

Akash.