Banner: Zee Studio, KriArj Entertainment, Cape Of Good Films & Plan C Studios
Producer: Neeraj Pandey, Aruna Bhatia,
Nittin Keni, Akash Chawla, Virender Arora,
Ishwar Kapoor & Shital Bhatia
Director: Tinu Suresh Desai
Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Ileana D’Cruz,
Esha Gupta, Arjan Bajwa, Pawan Malhotra, Usha Nadkarni, Sachin Khedekar, Kumud Mishra, Anang Desai, Parmeet Sethi, Kanwaljit Singh et al
Music: Ankit Tiwari, Jeet Ganguly, Raghav Sachar & Arko Pravo Mukherjee
Of late there is a strongest trend of making a biopic movie on legendary figures and also movies based on true stories of real people mirroring their down to earth real lives. And religiously following this trend is none other than the Producer – Actor team of Neeraj Pandey – Akshay Kumar. And their latest outing Rustom is based on the real life incident of a famed Naval Officer named K. M. Nanavati. And both Neeraj Pandey & Akshay Kumar deserve a standing ovation for brilliantly presenting or rather re – presenting the courtroom battle of K. M. Nanavati. Which had earlier appeared in the form of 2 movies namely Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke & Achanak. So once again Hats off to Neeraj Pandey & Akshay Kumar.
The scripted scenario of Rustom kick starts with a periodic era of 1959, when Mumbai was still “Bombay” and the times when justice was done by the jury members and not by the judge. This is followed by the introduction of the “habituated to his uniform” Commander Rustom Pavri (Akshay Kumar) and his lovely wife Cynthia Pavri (Ileana D’Cruz). One day, when Rustom Pavri comes back home from the sea, earlier than his scheduled date, he is shocked when he gets to know that his wife Cynthia has gone out with the “filthy” rich Vikram Makhija (Arjan Bajwa) and has not been home since the last 2 days. Rustom Pavri, then, starts breathing fire and reaches Vikram’s house, only to find Vikram & Cynthia together in an uncompromising situation. Unable to bear the sight of his wife’s deceit, Rustom Pavri loads his official gun and shoots the evil minded Vikram, killing him on the spot. Being the ever righteous man, Rustom Pavri then goes to the police station and surrenders himself. When the news of Vikram’s death reaches the ears of his “well connected” sister Preethi Makhija (Esha Gupta), she vows to revenge her brother’s death. As the case goes to the court however, Rustom pleads not guilty. What follows after that is a heated court room drama, mudslinging & the role of the media in the case… all eventually leading to one common thing.
Director Tinu Suresh Desai in his 1st ever outing in 1920 London had displayed his directorial sparks. But in his 2nd outing Rustom he is in complete command and displays that he is just not the flash in the pan kind of director. But of course he appears a little weak in the courtroom drama but that is because of the poor writing skills of Vipul K. Rawal. Yet Tinu Suresh Desai has given a new life to this predictable courtroom fare. Another weak link of the movie is its technical crew like the film’s music by Ankit Tiwari, Jeet Ganguly, Raghav Sachar & Arko Pravo Mukherje, cinematography by Santosh Thundiyil & editing by Shree Narayan Singh. So on the whole it is only Akshay Kumar’s sterling act that holds the film and the cine goers interest together especially of those who are totally unaware of the most talked about case of Nanavati.
Performance wise no doubt that it is Akshay Kumar who rules the roost. He has totally blended himself into the character of Nanavati and delivered a towering albeit a powerhouse performance. On the other hand Ileana D’Cruz is too perfect to be true, in fact she matches Akshay Kumar step by step in the histrionics department. Esha Gupta is excellent. Arjan Bajwa has delivered a par excellence act in his “Brief” role. While the other seasoned actors like Kumud Mishra, Usha Nadkarni, Sachin Khedekar, Anang Desai, Parmeet Sethi, Kanwaljit Singh & above all Pawan Malhotra too have ended up giving a convincing & believable performance.
Tail Piece: Rustom is a perfect crime drama that has hit the marquee after ages.
