The wrong, The sincere and The carefree. Review on Yuva - Bollywood

Yuva - the youth....

Yuva shows 3 different shades of modern youth - the wrong, the sincere and the carefree.

One fine day, these three shades are seen on Howrah Bridge. The wrong personified by Lallan Singh played by Abhishekh Bachchan with dangerous intentions follows The sincere personified by Michael Mukherjee played by Ajay Devgun. The carefree personified by Arjun played by Vivek Oberoi is in his own world trying to woo his love interest.

The Wrong: I need power and money - fast money. Am willing to do anything for my goals no matter how materialistic they seem. I do have a beautiful wife Sasi (played by Rani Mukherjee) but wives are better kept away from your decisions in life. I don't see the reason to go by her will. No matter how much my decisions affect her life. And if she ever tries to stop me playing my will, she has to face the bashings. At home or outside, I have the right to bash anyone I wish to and obviously anyone I get paid to hit. Afterall I need power and money - a lot of it. Medium of gaining it really doesn't matter. Maybe am wrong but am supposed to be that way.

Back on the Howrah bridge, bullets are shot. Someone seems to be gravely hurt.

The Sincere: Being a young man, gives me the power to think and act accordingly. Politics is what runs the world but the system needs sincere young blood. Why don't we, when we know we can cure the system from it's bad health. This is one me thinking this way. And I will see to it that the new generation does get the taste of my thoughts. It's high time, the young generation gets the license to run the world. Like most of us youngsters, I too have a love interest - Radhika (played by Esha Deol). But in my own way. I simply don't believe in the institution of marriage and the childish ways of romance. If she loves me, she can stay with me without thinking what the world might think. That's me.

Violence on the Howrah Bridge has changed the tune of life. The carefree is shocked with the sudden punch of violence. It's his turn to show that he does care for humanity.

The Carefree: I simply take care of myself. The world does the same for itself. Cool philosophy; isn't it? I just wanna have fun. The worries can wait for some other day. Am planning to go to USA for further studies and will continue to live life as it comes. I met this girl named Meera (played by Kareena Kapoor) and as per my rules of heart we decided to have fun together without any emotional entanglements. But my heart defies me. Hey but what's all this? Just by chance I met the sincere and the wrong and my whole cool philosophy thing seems to have messed up.

The Impact:

As the buzz goes, Yuva no doubt is a disappointment if one goes to a multiplex with the name Mani Ratnam decorated on his / her mind.

Yuva does come up with a different angle towards telling a tale. But somehow doesn't really make it when the overall impact is brought in question. The movie's playtime seriously needs elongation by atleast half an hour.

The elections atmosphere is nowhere felt. With Mani Ratnam at the director's seat, the buying and selling of votes, the election violence, the rallies, the public image stunts, the race for minority votes were expected in elaborate fashion. If not on screen atleast in background.

Moreover Lallan's character which was supposed to be the most effective seems to be all wrapped up by the end. Radhika's character wasn't the need of the story. It just helps in highlighting the character Michael Mukherjee's view on martial traditions. Moreover the topic politics has been visited and revisited so many times that now the politician bashing element looks a bit too dry. And here the war seems to be against a single minister rather than against the system.

The climax scene where the youngsters walk in the parliament sporting modern outfits has been ripped off by most of the critics. However I didn't find anything wrong with the scene. The director's intentions remain honest. It shows that just wearing white kurtas doesn't bring out better service to the nation. The spark to serve effectively matters.

Yuva has it's own moments of glory. Afterall it's a Mani Ratnam flick. If not possesing the effect of his earlier ventures, Yuva still delivers the punch, not that powerful though. If the movie had been told in a straight manner, it wouldn't have the same effect it now has with the opening scene belonging somewhere in the middle of the tale and then the tale sprouting in three different tales with miscellaneous references to the other two tales in each tale and meeting back at the event where the movie started.

The Technical Aspects:

Mani Ratnam starts Yuva with a bang. Somehow by the end he seems to be in a hurry to reach the climax of the tale. The amount of time he spends on characterization cannot be questioned as the tale is in process while the characters unveil. But as soon as the flash back stories of the three characters reaches the point where the movie starts, Mani Ratnam loses his tight clench on his most celebrated asset ''story telling''. So what started with a bang ends up leaving back an unsatisfying aftertaste.

Talking of cinematography, Kolkata has never looked so beautiful onscreen. Ravi Chandran captures Kokata to it's fullest.

A. R. Rahman's musical score is too good but not upto the mark with what he delivered in Dil Se. However songs were not much needed in the enterprise except for the background ''Dol''.

Meheboob's work on lyrics in ''Kabhi Neem Neem'' is the only one to write home about. Other songs don't add up much of lyrical value to the songs.

The Performances:

The performance factor stands out effectively enough to carry the whole movie on it's shoulders. Everyone right from Esha Deol to Ajay Devgun to Om Puri rule the performance section.

Esha Deol sheds off all irritating body language and starts fresh and natural. Hope so this continues in her upcoming movies.

Kareena surprisingly seems normal too. Thankfully here she doesn't mix up her attitude with her role. She does act well in Yuva.

Rani Mukherjee is the one amongst the female leads who takes the cake. Her portrayal of Sasi is adorable. The actress has marvelously executed her outburst in her final scene.

Vivek Oberoi does his routine as the carefree Arjun. He has a good screen presence and casts a sort of freshness on his role.

Abhishek Bachchan has grown strong as an actor. His Lallan is simply mind blowing. Atlast he does make a powerful impact as an actor.

Ajay Devgun plays Michael Mukherjee with conviction. His ability to get away with a role of a college student only underlines his efficiency as an actor.

Om Puri as the politician is the only one actor of the lot who got his Bengali accent to perfection. He is one the most seasoned and underrated actors in bollywood.

On the whole:

Yuva is surely worth a dekho. But simply don’t expect too much from the name associated with the enterprise.