Viruddh – A cut above the rest, has more substance than gloss

Rating:- ***

Mahesh Manjrekar may have come in spotlight with a film in commercial genre, ‘Vaastav’, but his ‘Viruddh’ also makes a splendid impression, although it is in a different genre altogether. Though some people tend to compare it with SAARANSH, the film is closer to Dhoop. It’s a simple story of an aged husband Vidyadhar Patwardhan (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife Sumi (Sharmila Tagore)who have lost their grown up son Amar (John Abraham) who just happened to witness a crime and showed the bravado to intervene. A case of being punished for having good intentions, as it happens these days.

The plus point of the film is that it has a simple plot. Sans melodrama. The characters are the type we witness in our day-to-day life and, happily, there are no forced song-n-dance numbers no item songs and, indeed, no unwanted humour to impede the sombre storyline or the emotional track.

What’s even more important, VIRUDDH is the kinda film the whole family can see together,without anyone, young or old, feeling embarrassed. Rather than that, every cinegoer is bound to feel involved in the aged couples’s search for justice and the testing time it goes through.

The highlights of the film are when Vidhyadhar visits the Home Minister's son, who had accidentally pulled the trigger and the one when Sanjay Dutt bashes up the lawyer [Sri Vallabh Vyas] in Bachchan's house.

Screenplay by Manjrekar and Yash-Vinay screenplay is interesting, albeit While
cinematography of Vijay Arora meets the demands of the script, editing leaves a lot to be desired.

Performances? Expectedly, Amitabh Bachchan pervades the show, but Sharmila Tagore is almost a perfect foil to him. Sanjay Dutt also does well in a brief role. The scene will be particularly relished by action lovers. John Abraham gives another sincere performance.

Sachin Khedekar, Amitabh Dayal, Prem Chopra, Sharat Saxena, Shivaji Satam, Tom Alter, Ninad Kamat, Atul Kale and Beena make laudable contribution.

VIRUDDH is surely not the kind of film everyone is likely to like, but it has a lot to appeal to those who like films to have more substance than style or gloss.