LAAL KAPTAAN movie review is here. Starring Saif Ali Khan, the epic action drama is written and directed by Navdeep Singh. Produced by Eros International and Producer Aanand L Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions, The movie is released today. Does LAAL KAPTAAN rules?. Let’s find out in the movie review of LAAL KAPTAAN.
Immediate reaction when the end credits roll
Help Help,,, This ‘Laal’ is making me ‘behaal’ and has gone crazy.
The Story of LAAL KAPTAAN
Set in the ravines of Bundelkhand against the 1764 Battle of Buxar, LAAL KAPTAAN is a tale of a bloody vengeance they say. Saif Ali Khan plays the son of a Rohilla chieftain who gets adopted by a group of Naga Sadhus after the death of his father. He learns sword fighting and other arts from the naga sadhus. Grows up into a bounty hunter who’s thirsty for the blood of his father’s killer.
LAAL KAPTAAN movie review
A painstakingly bad mash up of spaghetti westerns with the epic badla aka revenge genre with a period thrown in for no rhyme and reason. Navdeep Singh’s LAAL KAPTAAN is possessed by the writer director’s obsessive imaginary where he believes he is making a difference by keeping the characters that includes the protagonist aloof of solid conviction and graph.
In spite of the erstwhile suave Saif Ali Khan in a naga sadhu avatar (not bad) riding on a horse most of the times, the movie doesn’t move. Designed as a sleeping pill, LAAL KAPTAAN is Navdeep Singh’s worst and it turns much scarier when we know the same Navdeep Singh made a terrific adaptation of the cult de noir CHINA TOWN in MANORAMA: SIX FEET UNDER and gave an Indian lady KILL BILL in Anushka Sharma’s NH 10. LAAL KAPTAAN is so bad that it’s actually sad.
Sudip Sharma’s dialogues act like lullaby for those who have still not yawned. The vague surreal understanding of karma and the cycle of life is laced with such lines that are an award for sheer banality picture this – Aadami ke paida hote hi, Kaal apne bhiase pe baith ke chal padta hai, usse vapas lewane, Aadami ki zindagee utti, Jitna samay us Bhaise ko laga us tak pahuchne mein”.
Now coming to the bizarre tribute to Sergio Leone in LAAL KAPTAAN. A loner with no name on a vendetta like Saif who has no name and is referred as Gossain. Navdeep Singh seems to have taken the ‘prasad’ of Bholenath merrily more in his study it seems.
It seems every element is calculated and placed on a slow burner to make you either cringe or go to sleep.
Thankfully, all is not lost and the movie manages to score a 1.5 rating due to cinematographer Shanker Ramen superb understanding of tones.
On the acting front, Deepak Dobriyal is having all the fun. He is a relief, an assurance that things are not that suicidal. Zoya Hussain and Simone Singh are fantastic.
Saif Ali Khan despite all the looks, kohl and physic, fails to make the ‘cut’.
Final words
Will end up with this gem from the movie which suits perfect. Here it goes, “Ek bhale aadami ne mujhse kaha tha,.ki maut ki taiyari, paida hote hi suru ho jaati hai” (rough translation: a wise man told me that the journey of death begins immediately with birth). How true, movies like LAAL KAPTAAAN are plain dead in finding the connection with the audience right from the moment they begin.
