Movie Review - Gandhi Fer Aa Gea: So much for mindless action

Gurnaaz Kaur

From the outset, one this is clear that this film marks the comeback of Aarya Babbar. There is hardly any frame without him. Yes, he is that essential to the movie. He was last seen in Heer and Hero five years back. One can understand the pressure it could mean for the actor and the importance of the flick in his career.

Aarya plays the titular role of Gandhi, who returns home from a 10-year-long sentence in jail. He was jailed at the age of 17 for killing five boys, who had tried to harm his sister. His mission in life is to be the saviour of his village. So, when he is released from the jail and finds out that his village is plagued with drugs, gang wars, poverty and dirty politics, he knows what he has to do—to liberate his village from all the vices. There is a family feud with his uncle that needs to be resolved as well. Can we say there is a lot on his plate?

For Pollywood, Gandhi is a title that’s associated with Dev Kharoud. It’s like Dev’s brand. Both Rupinder Gandhi and its sequel have proved Dev as an action hero in the industry. Therefore, one can safely say there is a certain expectation attached to a film that has Gandhi in its title.

While on the surface it is a story about a village and its messiah, but as the film progresses, one understands it’s about how well Aarya Babbar can fight goons, how he knows exactly where he is needed and how well-built body he has.

When it comes to the storyline, there is nothing new or interesting. You can gauge it from the first few scenes where right on stepping out of the jail, he breaks the whole dhaba in the process of making five guys pay for the food they ate. Think about this- for a few hundred rupees, he smashes the whole place. Whose loss is it? It may be aesthetically appalling, but proves the point that Gandhi is the hero.

In one scene he working for his village as the sarpanch, in another he is this meek brother, who folds his hands when his sister’s wedding gets fixed with an MLA’s son. Can you comprehend the two opposite traits of a strong, powerful man? You’ll find such contrasts every few minutes.

Let’s talk of the action scenes now. If Gandhi is in every frame, so are his fighting sequences, the kinds where a person gets a punch and goes flying in the air for minutes. So much so that when he sees a father and daughter crying on a roadside, he stops and takes up the duty of helping the girl, who has been thrown out of her house for dowry. Next you see he goes to the groom’s house, beats him up. No one questions what is happening, the guy quietly takes the blows, his parents stand in a corner to witness it and the girl is back in her house. Such unreal and unwanted scenes are scattered throughout.

If you go by this film, people in Punjab villages know nothing other than plotting against enemies; they blindly stand by the sarpanch; no matter how many crimes one does, the police never take action. And, in the name of romance, there are two songs and maybe two dialogues. That’s how unimportant the female leads are. But as Gandhi’s sister, Neha Malik has an edge over others. She can go anywhere and threaten anyone because she is Gandhi’s sister.

Acting wise, not a single character touches you or even comes close to convincing you that they are genuinely playing any role. Either they are too dramatic or deliver dialogues in a deadpan tone.

The movie is painfully slow, literally dragged to convey this, ‘Gandhi ikk naam nahi, ikk soch ae, ikk jazba ae zulm de khilaaf ladhan da, jazba marda nahi sirf paida hunda ae!, which apparently is its essence. And Arya Babbar being the hero continues to fight the villain even after a strong stab in the chest.

Even though there is nothing to Gandhi Fer Aa Gea, one can say Arya Babbar has come back. And hopefully he will prove his mettle with better film.

gurnaaz@tribunemail.com