Childish games

Jasmine Singh

What would you expect from a political thriller? To begin with, politics, suspense, lot of action and some romance (given we are talking about a Punjabi film), or maybe the lead villain (who is a politician) dancing in an item number (given we are talking about a Punjabi film)! Vipin Parashar-directed Saadey CM Saab has all this, but in a way that you would never want to talk about it the minute you leave the movie hall. So much so that you wish just like Harbhajan Mann loses his memory in the film, you could also forget all about watching it ever!

The story of Saadey CM Saab has been written by Sumeet Singh Manchanda and it could have been the strong point of the film had the writer worked on it more intently. The film starts on a so-called action ‘let’s move it’ note, but before you know it, Saadey CM Saab has put his caravan on some road that is not going to take it anywhere. As a result of this, the audience gets to see predictable suspense, unwanted dance and song sequences, childish villainy and the most tiring dialogues.

Director Vipin Parashar, however, has given due screen space to all his actors, in fact towards the end he realised that he needs to make the villain (Dev Singh Gill) sound and look menacing. So, he gives him an item song!

We say politics is a dirty game. Well, not in this film. Here, politics is about dance, it is about repeating the same lines on samaaj sudhaar, it is about playing dirty games to get the seat of the CM of Punjab with only two people mixing their broth.

In front of Punjabi films that have been made on the issue of politics like Dharti, Saadey CM Saab weighs pretty light. With uncalled for twists and turns, the film doesn’t grip you at all. Instead of some state politics, it looks like classroom politics, where two kids are fighting for the post of class monitor!

Actor-singer Harbhajan Mann plays Yudhvir Singh and he has done a fairly okay job. If only his character was etched properly! The same holds true for Gurpreet Ghuggi. He plays Yudhvir’s buddy in the film and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that whatever ‘saving grace dialogues’ that one finds in the film, come from Gurpreet only!

Now for Rahul Singh, a name in Hindi films, Saadey CM Saab does no justice to his debut. As for the bad man, Dev Singh Gill playing young politician in the film, he doesn’t come across as a politician who can do anything to come to power. Dev Singh Gill is made to look like a kid who starts to wail when someone takes away his toy! And what’s with the dance number he is given right in the middle of a so-called serious sequence, and him shaking his booty before shooting a police officer? There is an actress in the film, Kashish Singh, who drives a motorbike and dances as well. The music doesn’t go with the film at all; most of the times it is totally unwanted. Saadey CM Saab in no measure brings out anything of politics, save for the memory loss of the film, which is its USP because this is the only thing you desperately want right now.

jasmine@tribunemail.com