Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Chrysanthepop After the lacklustre but financially successful 'Rajneeti', director Prakash Jha seems to have gone into political flick mode. His 'Aarakshan', while it has some interesting moments, remains flawed especially in terms of execution. The concept of the film may be intriguing and it does attempt to tackle with the corrupt education system in India which has rarely been depicted in Hindi cinema. The main problem is that 'Aarakshan' tends to get very preachy and melodramatic at times, to the point that it ruins sequences that required more subtlety. Moreover the songs weren't necessary at all. The best parts of 'Aarakshan' are the sequences between Manoj Bajpai and Amitabh Bachchan. The scenes that take place after Prabhakar resigns and Mithilesh's attempts to destroy him stand out. Needless to say both Bajpai and Bachchan are spellbinding. Saif Ali Khan is miscast as he looks too old for the part. Prateik Babbar fails to impress. Tanvi Azmi is good. Deepika Padukone lacks spontaneity and she shouldn't be given dialogues in English.Overall, 'Aarakshan' introduces the corruption within the education system. Jha doesn't do a terrible job with it but perhaps a more skilled director would have made something more convincing.

MubukuGrappa During a humid winter in the mid 1980s, in a small town in the remote Indian North-East, many people waited for a movie named Billa-Ranga to arrive. The memory of the rape-murder of Geeta and Sanjay Chopra was still relatively fresh, and Billa-Ranga were the epitome of evil for most people. Finally, the movie arrived, and lots of people, including many senior citizens covered in shawls or blankets, flocked to the cinema hall, which were screening it only for the night show. Interestingly, though, this was a South Indian movie dubbed into Hindi, where Ranga And Billa sang and danced, wooed women, turned out to be undercover cops and ended up getting special Police medal for bravery and achievements.While watching Aarakshan, I had deja vu; it was as if I was re-watching Billa-Ranga (which, to me, has been a cruel joke played on us poor fellows!).This movie could as well have been named "Infrastructure Problem in the Chambal Region" or "General Theory of Relativity" or "Autobiography of Idi Amin" or the "Health Benefits of Yoga" or anything one may think of the top of one's head. This is because Aarakshan has as much to do with the issue of reservation in India, as with any of the titles that I have at random mentioned. Probably Jha was aware of what was going on, and that is why the waiter brings two glasses of Limca (or some such whitish thing) when our hero clearly orders two cups of coffee. You do not get what you expect to be delivered!This also reminds me of a couple of interviews of Naseeruddin Shah, where he steadfastly proclaimed his love for movies of Dara Singh; after watching Aarakshan, I have a gut feeling that I understand why!

AishFan Aarakshan is a film revolving around the highly controversial subject of affirmative action in India's higher education system. When the Supreme Court rules that reserved seating for "backward castes" has been increased greatly, along with all of India, the nation's most prestigious university polarizes into two groups, one for the ruling and one against it. This leaves the diplomatic, fair-grounded principal, Amitabh, torn between the two sides.The role of Dr. Prabhakar Anand was tailor-made for Amitabh Bachchan, and he, and only he, could pull it off so naturally and with so much grace. Saif Ali Khan was completely miscast. The role of a poor, struggling, pro-affirmative action, hard-worker could not be well- portrayed by the royal Nawab Pathan. Deepika Padukone acted wonderfully as does her mother in the film. Manoj Bajpai was good as well.What I personally liked the most about the movie is seeing how much India respects and values a good education. Rich, poor, toppers, and "failures" all recognize that one must get the best education possible in order to succeed in life. Amitabh clearly portrayed this feeling in his performance. Though, some parts, especially the final portions, were quite filmi.So, ultimately, who is right? Are the rich hogging all the university seats? Are the poor being discriminated against and not getting a chance to pursue higher studies? Or are low-scorers being given a free ride without having the merit? Then, can the upper caste ever imagine what those in the slums are going through? Is caste identification encouraging the caste system? The film and its protagonist do take a stance on this controversial matter. Everyone has their opinion. Some might even be persuaded one way or the other by the film. I, too, have my views but won't used IMDb as a political outlet. Save that for another blog, I guess.

priya_mann Idealistic, traditionalistic, wannabe appealing to the urbanized segment of Indian society. Amitabh Bacchan is just the principal that every school would dream of. A perfectly lovely family (wife/ daughter) and home. An extremely caring daughter and wife. To top it all, a fan following in society based on his passion and sincerity for education. But perfect pictures don't remain so and thus the devil plays his role. Lewd, unworthy and unreal talking on part of students, colleagues, politicians etc. Felt a little unreal a God few days back, Amitabh is being cussed, cursed and abused even by his own students. The Knight in shining armor- Saif comes to salvage the situation. There is a lot of crude talking in the movie. I feel the stance of the wife is a little unrealistic- having lost everything because of her husband, she is always beaming, gleaming and peacefully by his side. Thus human emotions have been put aside to build quite the ideal image. As and when a movie does get to be so, I lose interest because it stops feeling like real or something I could relate to. The Plot can be divided in 3 parts: Plot 1: All is well. Hunky dory. Lovely family, lovely house, good relationships, respect and repute Plot 2: All that could possibly go down does go down. But Amitabh with his ideals keeps persisting in life. Never failing to show up Plot 3: Starts to build on his respect and reliability once again. The movie ends not showing that a man could change the world with his ideals. It shows a powerful woman (Hema Malini) pulling a few strings and thus being able to get Amitabh his lost esteem, repute and credibility. So the role of politicians is still shown as being stronger and just by luck if you know the biggest fish, things do tend to go your way. The students didn't feel educated. I liked the general ambiance of their home. I liked the ability to mobilize people. India's strength is it's people. The film quite powerfully shows the strength of people. This movie also is indicative to people movements and how involvement of the common man can steer decision making. People strength and publicity are the only two things Indian politicians fear as on date.