Eklavya The Royal Guard

If there was a case of film technique taking precedence over creative moviemaking , Eklavya would have been a masterpiece. It still is in some parts , but feels like a drink you want more of for lack of satisfaction. Visual Imagery , breathtaking camera work and stunning depiction of a parched landscape notwithstanding there is little I can say about recommending Eklavya. The storyline itself is commonplace and confusing mutterings about the bard forces one to think whether quoting Shakespeare as a normal activity during the day passes off as good cinema. I fail to understand why confused recital of Shakespearen Sonnets in the situation as depicted in the film is worthy of praise . The film's storyline fails to catch the viewers attention , art takes precedence over cinema (The art by the way is itself open to criticism) but the purpose of the column is not to discuss literature or art but to review the merit of the movie , which in all sense is make believe. There is no such thing as best performance in the movie. Amitabh sleepwalks through the role of a Royal Guard as if someone is bored to death , Saif looks confused in a setting of unfamiliar proportions . We in India are quick to regard people as great even if something remotely close to good acting is done. Saif has been good in one movie so far "Omkara and the rest have been decent not earthshattering performances.The best performance is undoubtedly of Sanjay Dutt who shines as a lower caste DSP peppering crinkling humour with a morose melancholy. Jackie Shroff and Shergill are competent whereas Vidya Balan should seriously think of shedding the Parineeta image , her expressions are seriously limited on a scale where there was a scope for her character to display more emotions than a smile and sad longing.Boman Irani looks cartoonish in this movie for no fault of his , the director made the movie for satisfying some primeval urge at creativity not understood by mere mortals.Eklavya reminds me of the unbearable lightness of being which in itself was a great book though i was not convinced by the movie just as Vidhu Vinod Chopra fails to convince us with his epic.