Review of Sanju (2018) by Movieznp — 14 Mar 2019

We finally got the biopic of Sanjay Dutt, which was nothing but his side of his own life story. .

Good : Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal are perfect in their roles. They do have the father-son dynamic and they have embraced the characters very well. Throughout the film, they felt like Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Dutt, respectively. Being partly set in the 80s and 90s, it has an appropriate vibe of that era and gives the feeling of nostalgia. It doesn't try to glorify Sanjay Dutt every time. It clearly accepted that his addiction of drugs and women wasn't good, and doesn't try a bit to justify his deeds. As a central part of the story, it mostly shows the father-son relationship, his ups and downs as an actor and friendship. They were interesting enough to watch it in the way they were presented. The movie does try to justify some of his acts, but the way they have shown things is interesting just to watch it as a work of fiction. .

Mixed : It is not really a Dutt biopic, but a satire on media. Every other Hirani film has been some sort of a satire, I definitely love them, and I loved what they have shown in this movie. But, it doesn't feel like a right movie to throw satire on things like that. Looking at the potential of Hirani, he can do that job in a much better way in a different movie. It doesn't try to justify anything related to Dutt's issues with drugs, underworld and women and portrays that they were not right. But it tries really hard to remove the tag of "terrorist" from his name. As per the story of the film, it follows in a fine manner. And had it been a fictional story, I would've accepted that easily. But the justifications given make us question things even more. Why didn't he ask for police protection? Sunil Dutt was an MP, so it wouldn't have been too difficult. If that was the case, he would've never been called a terrorist. But it doesn't answer those questions and blame it all on media. I admit that Indian media is equivalent to p*$$ies and a$$holes. But, that doesn't mean that I would accept everything that you show. And for everyone who are not ready to accept it, they are treated with an on the nose inclusion of the song "Kuchh toh log kahengye". .

Bad : Sonam Kapoor. She appears for few minutes and makes all of us cringe with her downright terrible overacting. She is a suckass actress, and she proves it yet again. F**k her performance. And the way they unite Dutt and his friend in the end relies solely on the fact that the friend has kept a random news article as a reminder, which sounds incredibly lame. .

Conclusion : This feels like a highly fictionalized biopic. Performances are great. But, it doesn't feel like it's telling the story of Sanjay Dutt and feels more like a satire on Indian media. Definitely the weakest film made by Rajkumar Hirani. But if you take it with a grain of salt, it won't be difficult to accept it. .

Rating. .

Score : 7.