Eklavya

The attempt is majestic: to marry Shakespeare with the crumbling world of Rajasthani fiefdoms and then underlying it with Mahabharata. But doesn't work.

Namrata Joshi

Updated on: 7 February 2024 6:07 pm

Eklavya

Starring:

Directed by

The screen lights up for a brief while in Eklavya when Sanjay Dutt makes his entry as the untouchable cop whose forefathers have been at the receiving end of feudal caste politics. In democracy he knows his ‘danda’ is bigger than their ‘talwar’. He is acerbic but joyous, not scarred and unhappy as you would expect. Nice turn, you think, and wait for more only to be disappointed later. He flickers brightly only for a brief while. Like all the other characters, he remains terribly sketchy and unrealised. In fact, in the washout of a climax, he ends up serving as a mere plot device. All this would have been fine had Eklavya’s story itself been riveting enough but it doesn’t hold you at all, leaves you dreary.

The attempt is majestic: to marry Shakespeare with the crumbling world of Rajasthani fiefdoms and then underlying it with Mahabharata and the concept of dharma and honour. It all gets way too complicated and not a single one of these elements is able to work. In the interest of not revealing much of the supposed suspense, the film is about a king, his dying queen, the prince, some scheming relatives, a potty daughter, a love-sick daughter of the driver and a loyal bodyguard. It’s all about palace intrigues and dark secrets, the lurking evil, broken promises and dharma redefined.

Part of the problem is that Chopra goes on an overkill with his images at the cost of his script. The centrepiece, the killings in the desert in the midst of the moving train and the camel hooves, is well shot. But other attempts at novelty like the many minutes of the blank screen come across as more gimmicky than innovative. In one of the emotional moments, when the king is crying at his personal plight, the wig moves off the head. The moment, instead of filling the screen with pathos, turns out terribly laughable. As for acting, everyone save Dutt seems to be talking in whispers and husky drawls. Vidya uses her eyes so much that her expressions seem more like a dancer’s mudras. As for Big B, what’s this about it being his "best" performance? What about Saudagar, Zanjeer, Deewar, Mili, Abhimaan, Chupke Chupke, Bemisaal, Trishul, Jurmana?

High Fives

Bollywood
1. Eklavya
2. Guru
3. Traffic Signal
4. Black Friday
5. Salaam-E-Ishq

Hollywood
1. Ghost Rider
2. Bridge to Terabithia
3. Norbit
4. Music and Lyrics
5. Daddy’s Little Girl

Classical
1. Appassionato (Yo-Yo Ma)
2. Songs from the Labyrinth (Sting)
3. Voice of the Violin (Joshua Bell)
4. Neruda Songs (Lorraine Lieberson)
5. Russian Album (Anna Netrebko)

Courtesy: Film Information