After the earnest performance of Sidharth as Captain Batra in "Shershaah", it was time to check out Ajay Devgn as Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik in yet another biopic titled "Bhuj: The Pride of India". I have to admit that I was pretty curious to check out the latter one as it was set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pak war of 1971 with the focus on the brave men & women who joined hands to reconstruct the Bhuj air strip that was destroyed in shelling. It was a piece of history that I wasn't quite aware of & hopefully Abhishek Dudhaiya could make himself proud of his debut venture.
Pakistan's efforts to put a stranglehold on East Pakistan in the 1970s did not seem to have the desired impact as our forces ensured that they were kept at bay. In order to get the chips in their favour, they decided to bombard the western border of India whihc led to the demolition of the airstrip in Bhuj which was under the command of Sq Leader Vijay Karnik (Ajay Devgn). Our Air Force had the capability to strike back but without a functional air base it wasn't possible to sent in reinforcements. The only option left was to repair the airstrip but with no labour available within the defense forces, Karnik approached the villagers of Madhapar, who stayed in the vicinity to help them in their task. This movie is basically about how these people came forward to help & the impact it created in the war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.
Well there isnt much to honey coat here as the direction was damn mediocre & the script which is the collaboration of quite a few including Abhishek was pathetic to say the least. It came across as stale be it the dialogues which was cringe worthy at times, the sets which seemed like it was from some drama troupe & the VFX that was damn ordinary. None of the technical aspects deserves mention as it was average at best. However, there were a couple of sequences such as Nora Fatehi's escape bid, Sanju's stunts in the trench (it was far fetched & reminded me on Ram Charan in "Magadheera", but still it was fine) that made us take notice On the performance side, there is precious little that could be done especially when the writing was so shoddy. Even then, I did feel Sharad Kelkar, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha did a decent job while Ajay Devgn brought in his standard brooding expression.
Verdict: On the positive side, it definitely motivated me to read up on this chapter of valour that many of us are unlikely to know. On the down side, the manner in which it was picturized fails to do justice to the bravery & dedication of those selfless villagers and the defense forces. In short, do read up on this incident but forget watching this!!!
Rating: 1.5/5
Regards...Ben
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