Film Review: Nazar Andaaz (2022)

Sudhir is blind since he was a child. He is a singer and his housekeeper Bhavani serves him for a few years. One day, he befriends Ali, a thief who broke into his house the previous night; and willingly allows him to live with him under one condition that he won’t commit theft again.

Nazar Andaaz is a dramedy that wants us to go deep into the eyes of the blind and feel his life. As much as I want to understand Sudhir, the trouble is the annoying chemistry between Bhavani and Ali who are on each other’s nerves to earn trust of Sudhir. The film wasted plenty of time on their lame humor and reduced the deserving minutes of Sudhir that could have filled more detailing about his work and the past.

The writing of the film did allow the audience to melt at some sequences where Sudhir meets an old flame and then visits his childhood home. The film’s only element that is praiseworthy is Kumud Mishra as Sudhir. This was one incredible performance of a blind person. I have never watched any role of a blind giving the most accurate facial detailing as Kumud did in the film. This was a meticulous physical effort by Kumud. I feel sorry for him that such a performance goes wasted in a film that deserved better quality writing.

Divya Dutta and Abhishek Banerjee are badly wasted. Nazar Andaaz is nazar andaaz-ed by its aesthetics. Watch the film only for one of the best performances of the year by Kumud Mishra.

RATING: 4/10

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Movie Review: Manjunath (2014)

Manjunath is a Hindi movie based on real-life tragic incident about a 27 year-old young man Manjunath Shanmugam, who worked in IOC (Indian Oil Corporation) as sales officer who was shot dead on duty by a petrol pump owner and goons for sealing owner’s petrol pump for selling adulterated petrol in Lakhimpur Kheri, UP in 2005.

Manjunath is one of deceased individuals in India who was murdered while serving his job honestly. Last year, we watched Hansal Mehta’s Shahid who served his country with honesty as a lawyer and paid the price.

Lows of the movie???? As compared to Shahid, sadly this movie couldn’t do that level of justice as was expected to show. Movie is off-color with flat dialogues, very average performances and never fitting background score due to reasonably being a low-budget despite being produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

Director fails to milk an inspiring story and at many occasions, high break-pointing scenes don’t create any sensation to grow your nerves. Drunk Manjunath’s attempt of romancing his friend in her room is so cold as well as the most important scene of Manjunath’s murder goes poiseless. The debutant actor who played Manjunath do resemble Manjunath a lot but fails to inspire the viewer due to lack of acting skills or experience. I may choose Madhavan over him if I was director.

 

Plus point of the movie is that going from Manjunath’s IOC work till his murder, it will HITTT YOUUU HARDDDD!!!! Making this movie was a brave attempt keeping in mind the movie exposed corruption in state of Uttar Pradesh as some part of movie was shot in Lucknow including Indian Institute of Management (IIM) where he did his MBA.

Also what goes ahead is all Manjunath’s moments/scenes with his parents which were very realistic and touching. Casting well-known artists like Seema Biswas, Divya Dutta, Kishore Kadam and Yashpal Sharma brought more attention.

Despite being a sorry state of movie-making, Manjunath holds a strong message and raises voice to reduce if not dismantle corruption. A one-time but a must-watch movie. The film was supported by the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust through which the support of IIM-Lucknow and Manjunath’s parents were enlisted.

Ratings: 5.7/10

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