Introduction
Rajkummar Rao has been doing back to back comedies and thus, it was quite evident that he needed to change his choice of films. Akshay Kumar in Rowdy Rathore, Salman Khan in Wanted, Aamir Khan in Ghajini, and Shahrukh Khan in Pathaan- Joining hands with commercial Hindi cinema to break free of their perceived unanimous image is a tried and tested formula that has given significantly positive results to prominent actors, and while Rao geared up strongly for his share of persona modification with his latest theatrical outing 'Maalik', things have sadly gone terribly wrong here. Directed by Pulkit, this film stars Rajkummar Rao, Manushi Chillar, and Prosenjit Chatterjee in the lead roles, while Saurabh Shukla, Anshuman Pushkar, Swanand Kirkire, and Saurabh Sachdeva star in supporting roles.
Basic Plot
Set in the late 80's in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, this film follows Deepak's transformation into 'Maalik' after his family is affected by landlords.
Positives
First fifteen minutes, Sound Design, and Rajkummar Rao
The starting is quite pacy which sets a good tone for the film to continue, in spite of not giving a proper entry to Rao's character. You get the idea of what's in store for you as you're introduced to all the major characters in the film, and this is something that's a 'always welcome' in a gangster drama. Rajkummar Rao performs well (if not stupendous) and while you can see him trying to get over the 'ecosystem' of bad writing that his character has received (while that worked or not.. saving it for later), you have to credit him with the honest attempt that he has made. While not really a break-out from his 'regular persona' as intended, Rao is probably the only one for whom you may even think of going to the theatres to watch the film. Even Prosenjit Chatterjee as SP Prabhu Das starts well and hangs in there with his occasional Bengali 'slip-of-tongues', but is stripped off all the 'hype' that his character carried in the first half only to become a joke at the end. One aspect that I would not hesitate to praise is the sound design by Anish John. The sound designing makes a mark in every scene of the film whose biggest example is got to be felt during the action. During the slow-mo action scenes, every object (tray, cylinder, plates, bench, etc) that is used by the characters to beat one another has got sound, different from the other. This is very well crafted and put together, which amplifies the impact of even the most regular of action scenes. While this isn't enough to pull off this dubious film by any stretch of imagination, it is a good detail that's worth mentioning.
Underwhelming Aspects
Direction, Dialogues, and Execution
I really don't know where to start as there's so much that has gone wrong with this film. Even the basics are compromised, like what in the world did director Pulkit think of, while making this film? Dialogues are so bland, the writing is so 'punch-less', that they feel not more than random information dumps in the screenplay, that are scattered all over the place. You expect performance, especially dialogue-delivery to be spot on when the dialogue writing is flat in particular, but even that doesn't happen. Majority of the dialogue-delivery from the cast lack the gravitas, and even energy (I'm not nit picking). The cast performances have been strikingly one-dimensional and apart from Rao, who tried, no one really stood out to make it easier for you to sit through a solid 152 minutes of runtime. The direction has been surprisingly underwhelming and it felt like Pulkit tried to forcefully tick all the checkboxes of a conventional gangster drama. The makers probably tried to combine Gangs of Wasseypur's intellectualism with Raees's commercial tone, and failed miserably in both. The film really bores you and that's not even the bad part, let alone worse. The emotions don't work, the drama isn't felt, the thrill is absent, the romance is forgettable, and so is the music- frankly, nothing has gone the film's way.
The execution has also been very awkward. While the film follows a non-linear writing where the rule of Maalik is in the present timeline and his rise is set in the past, it doesn't really take off and feels impact-less. The main reason or even motivation behind Maalik's 'what' and 'why' aren't clear and hence, the main character feels very aimless. Weird is also the climax, and it's stretched out version to tease a sequel (for God knows what reasons) was absolutely unnecessary at best. I don't really know what did the director do with Prosenjit Chatterjee's character towards the end of the film. He's marginalized to the brim and his character writing strongly restricts him to pose as a threat to the gangsters. The final showdown of the film is where I felt Chatterjee to be unintentionally funny and it's sad to see him demoted like this, after delivering a banger of a performance in Neeraj Pandey's 'Khakee: The Bengal Chapter'. I mean, Swanand Kirkire calling Chatterjee 'baklol' (nonsensically stupid) was probably the last thing that I wanted to hear! I mean, seriously? Oh, and not to forget Chatterjee's character indulging in a haphazardly shot chase sequence, trying to bring in an anti-climax in a heavily predictable story, and then receiving a medal for doing nothing but dishonesty (it was meant to be that way anyways, but for a character who is shown to have successfully committed 98 encounters, it's laughable). I laughed so hard in the final scene of the film that even the handful of people in the theatre were looking at me :).. and you know the worst part? The last shot wasn't meant to be funny by any means :)) This pretty much sums up the movie for you I guess.
Conclusion
Gangster drama films generally have a template: a 'nobody' guy.. catches the attention of a local gangster.. the 'nobody' guy rising to prominence.. 'nobody' guy overpowers his mentor and becomes his own boss.. makes political connections.. fellow ministers who once supported him, sense their cease.. dirty politics comes into play.. internal commotions.. the main guy dies..- quite a simple yet standard framework to be frank, and if this was the plot (with a good execution), I would've complained a lot lesser, even if it looked Raees-ish. The main problem with 'Maalik' is it's nature of being neither fish nor foul. The middle of the road core plot that was selected for the film backfires severely, and you can't help but watch the film in distress. Actors like Saurabh Shukla have nothing to do as their characters have got neither meat nor dynamics, and even the cat and mouse chase between Rao and Chatterjee is entirely absent, which adds to the film's long list of misery. I seriously had high hopes from this film after watching it's trailer, but the film fails to deliver big time. Maalik paida nahi huye to kya.. ban to sakte hain na?' - not this time Rajkummar Rao, not until you choose an entertaining commercial script!
Watch Out For
- Sound design
- Rajkummar Rao
WTF Rating
5/10