Movie: Sadak 2
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Jisshu Sengupta, Priyanka Bose, Makarand Deshpande
Director: Mahesh Bhatt
Story: The heiress of Desai Group of Industries, Arya (Alia Bhatt), vows to herself to avenge her mother’s death which had remained a mystery for years. And to do that, she has to fulfil her mother’s last wish by embarking upon a road trip to Kailash. This is how Sadak 2 starts off its journey to find the end with having avenged for her death.
Review: The opening scene of the movie shows Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) tying a noose around his neck to hang himself to a ceiling fan, interestingly he is also speaking to the portrait of his deceased wife Pooja (Pooja Bhatt). But a few minutes ahead in the scene, the attempt to meet his beloved, soon in the heaven gets killed as the fan falls. And Ravi is left to lead another day alone. The setup of the scene looks too melancholic, where a protagonist has no hope in living and that sinks the movie at grim.
Later, Aarya storms inside while he is stepping out of the garage. ‘Hum Tere Bin Kahin Reh Nahi Paate’ playing in the scene adds little to nostalgia. Ravi agrees to drive on a three-month advance booking for her road trip due to consistent pestering by her. Along with her, comes her Boyfriend, Vishal (Aditya Roy Kapur), for a ride to Kailash.
En route follows them a spate of twists and turns, which in fact are not at all thrilling to keep your eyes glued to the screen for long. One such twist culminates the movie into the most cringe climax.
Aarya’s entire family – step-mother Nandini Maa ( Priyanka Bose) and father (Jisshu Sengupta) is captivated under the spell of ‘Dhongi Baba’ Gyaan Prakash ( Makarand Deshpande), but to the director’s extraordinary vision, Aarya is out of the spell and knows the truth about Baba better than her parents.
She has a clue about the plan that Baba colluded with Nandini to kill her mother but has to burst the intricate smartly without letting others know of it. Yes, Aarya being 20 is so mature in the plot that she prioritises her revenge over her graduation first.
I mean, seriously, who, in the teenage or early 20s, dares to do that. All we do is write a revengeful status on social media to express our anguish in Digital India! Somebody learn to be as mature as Aarya. And haven’t we seen a lot of movies in the past half-century based on such revenge saga? The movie serves the same in the plate but with new faces.
The plot of the movie doesn’t fit in the present style of filmmaking and that too, when it is supposed to be a revenge saga. Honestly saying, it is far from the classics Mahesh Bhatt gave in the past like – Naam, Zakhm, Arth, etc to name a few. Even the prequel ‘Sadak’ is entrenched in the best of 90s, which was packed with an interesting storyline and songs to remember for years.
Another problem with the movie is its outdated dialogues that can make you go scratching your head after listening. Dialogues like “Jo Garajte Hain Woh Baraste Nahi”, “Aadmi Karz Chuka Sakta Hai, Ehsaan Nahi” spiral out of the sphere which requires better dialogues.
The only saving grace is Sanjay Dutt, who tries hard to drag the movie on his shoulder but to no avail, due to the weak aesthetics, the film is attached with. The pain of a lone wolf could be believed in his eyes as he had faced turbulence in his personal and professional life, and that makes him best suited in the role of Ravi. Alia Bhatt looks way too melodramatic at 20 and misses the train this time to repeat the magic she had done in a similar role in ‘Gully Boy’. Aditya Roy Kapur has not been given anything credible to do. His talent goes down the drain in the film. Makarand Deshpande in the negative role brings some chills but that fade away in the long run.
In the end, we can only wonder why Mahesh Bhatt had to debunk the opportunity of using his child’s potential with this movie, which out of nowhere was needed after the hit ‘Sadak’.
