Marjaavaan Review: Sidharth Malhotra, Tara Sutaria starrer goes wrong with concoction of hit scripts
Marjaavaan Review: Marjaavaan gives you a feeling of watching a formula film inspired from various Bollywood hits. Sidharth in various scenes impersonates 90s Amitabh Bachchan, and you wonder if he would finally break into a ‘Hain’ in typical Big B style.
Movie Name: Marjaavaan
Marjaavaan Director: Milap Zaveri
Marjaavaan Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Sidharth Malhotra, Tara Sutaria, Rakul Preet Singh
Marjaavaan Stars: 1.5/5
Like the film industry once used to state in trailers, Marjaavaan has potential for action, emotion, drama and romance, but it inches towards a debacle in an attempt to entertain you with a huge star cast sans a solid script. Marjaavaan is the story of Raghu (Sidharth Malhotra) an orphan who becomes a loyal henchman of water tanker mafia king, Narayan Anna (Nassar). Vishnu (Riteish Deshmukh) is the son of Anna. The fact that his father gives more importance to Raghu and is always dependent on him makes Vishnu develop animosity for Raghu. One of the prime reasons for Vishnu’s angst is his inferiority complex due to his short stature.
The film slips from action mode to romance as Zoya (Tara Sutaria) makes an entry into the chawl where Raghu lives. She is a mute Kashmiri girl who in search of musically talented kids in Mumbai to take them to Kashmir for a show. Aarzoo (Rakul Preet Singh) is a bar dancer who also is in love with Raghu.
To rush you through the 2.5 hours ordeal in making, Raghu and Zoya are smitten in love, while Aarzoo is heart-broken. On the orders of Anna, Raghu kills his rival. Zoya witnesses callous Vishnu murdering the family of the rival mafia and informs the police. To save her life, Raghu plans to elope with her, but is caught by Vishnu who orders him to kill Zoya to save lives of the children of the chawl. What happens next is an easy guess for a Bollywood aficionado.
Marjaavaan gives you a feeling of watching a formula film inspired from various Bollywood hits. Sidharth in various scenes impersonates 90s Amitabh Bachchan, and you wonder if he would finally break into a ‘Hain’ in typical Big B style. He has stated earlier on record that Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh are his inspiration. In fact, Raghu and his team carry a first aid box with balm, spray and band-aid when they beat people to pulp. They also administer first aid to the victims, reminding you of Amitabh from Trishul.
Ravi Kishan as the police officer has little more than a cameo to deliver but without any meat in the character. On many fronts, you feel Marjaavaan is a splitting shadow of a possible Ek Villain 2 script, but there is no justification for making Riteish’s character of short stature. In fact, Vishnu makes an entry singing Teri Galliyan from Ek Villain. There are several scenes force-fit to show communal harmony and secularism with absolute lack of conviction. Similarly, what’s the point of a mafia importing henchmen from Morocco as Vishnu’s security for all they do is to beat Raghu in the second-half?
Milap Milan Zaveri who delivered a decent hit, Satyamev Jayate, hasn’t done justice to audiences' expectations. The dialogues are used as embellishments and are over-dramatic. Main badla nahi lunga, main inteqam lunga; Main todunga bhi, tod ke jodunga bhi, etc. are gold for meme-makers. You wonder if the screenplay was written through nights of inspirational binge-watch. Imitation is a form of flattery, but script can’t only be about it.
Marjaavaan leaves audiences wondering if the investment in starcast was to overshadow the lack of an intuitive and engaging script. There are many things which went south with the script, and you end up wondering which one was the worst?