Thackeray (2019)

Thackeray: Directed by Abhijit Panse. With Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Amrita Rao, Radha Sagar, Sanjay Narvekar. From controversial cartoonist to powerful Mumbai politician, this biopic maps the meteoric rise of far-right Shiv Sena party founder, Bal Thackeray.

“6/10 – Coming back after seeing this biopic of the larger-than-life Marathi politician, I am quite disappointed at how they have not done justice to this movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActing: First of all, Nawazuddin is the only major role in this film and others remain bystanders throughout the movie. Nawaz is probably one of the better actors in todayu0026#39;s era and he proves it with another great performance. However, he seems uncomfortable with Marathi and falls short at the fiery roar that Balasaheb possessed. For example, when I saw Sanju, I didnu0026#39;t realize that it was not Sanjay Dutt acting. Such actor-character sync was missing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYet, he was perhaps the best choice for this complex role (but wouldu0026#39;ve preferred Nana Patekar or Manoj Bajpai if they were younger). Amrita Rao, while being the other major character, is non-existent and missable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eScreenplay: The story, while doing a good job of taking us through Thackerayu0026#39;s life, did feel over the top at times (Remember that this movie was produced by Sanjay Raut, who is a part of the Shiv Sena so it excessively glorifies the character). I also hated the fact that the first half is in blacku0026amp;white. I mean, whatu0026#39;s the point?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, it was really interesting to see some politically-unrelated moments of Balasahebu0026#39;s life that I wasnu0026#39;t aware of. Some dialogues are pearls.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirection: This was the biggest let down for me. Abhijit Panse, who had previously made his debut with Rege (2014) – an absolute gem of a movie – seemed sloppy in his second (though I am not sure how much he could control things). It appeared as if he let Nawaz get away at times, but couldu0026#39;ve aimed at perfection.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe also tries to tell too many things in 2 hours. I wouldu0026#39;ve preferred less things but in more detail.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMusic: While there are no songs in this movie, background effects were really good and gave me goosebumps many times, inspiring me to pay attention to every scene.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEditing: Like I mentioned, there are too many scenes, and the movie seems very fast. They shouldu0026#39;ve fixed it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, worth a watch, but donu0026#39;t have high hopes like Sanju or Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 6/10 stars.”