Movie Review: "Sanju"

Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘biopic’ of Sanjay Dutt star is here – and it works very well, even if it does not aim to paint a nuanced picture of its protagonist and ends up feeling very simplistic and one-sided. What is complex and nuanced, however, are the performances, led by what can only be described as an absolute tour de force performance from Ranbir Kapoor. The actor practically vanishes in the role, and more often than not I was unable to distinguish the actor from the character.

“Sanju” unravels more as a sequence of events than a biopic – the storytelling is done as a biographer Winnie Diaz (played by Anushka Sharma, one performance which feels out of place here) is piecing together aspects of the star’s troubled life; on a request from the actor who wants his side of the story told. The movie focuses on two major aspects of the actor’s life – the first half is focused on his early years and his battle with drug addiction and the loss of his mother; while post-interval the focus shifts on his legal troubles and being branded a terrorist.

In typical Raju Hirani fashion, there are strong emotional moments which tug at your heartstrings, as well as a lot of humour peppered in. For me, the emotional bits are far stronger – the humorous bits work for the most part (with a lot of it being absolutely hilarious), but for me a lot of it took away from the momentum of the story telling and disinvested. But the biggest takeaway for me was that the movie plays it very safe, choosing to squarely blame the media all through the second half and painting the protagonist as a misunderstood figure who is merely a victim of the media. While this may be true to a large extent, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the simplistic manner of presenting it is a disservice. Fake news is now a hot topic, and it looks like the makers are using it to their advantage and basically using is as a scapegoat to point fingers at – the song during the credits lays it in thick, though in a fun way. It takes a bit away from the movie as well – the plot threads where both the biographer and the best friend are swayed by news articles so easily without doing even basic research of their own despite being so heavily invested in the actor is silly to say the least. That being said, the Rajkumar Hirani template is almost a formula for success with its crowd-pleasing nature, and so it isn’t surprising that the director doesn’t tread a different path – if you do not think too much on these aspects you will enjoy the movie.  

The performances are definitely the highlight of this movie. The main cast is very strong – Manisha Koirala as Nargis Dutt has a striking resemblance and backs it up with a great performance. Paresh Rawal as Sunil Dutt, while not having much by way of resemblance, makes a winning turn as the ever-suffering father who refuses to give up on his son. The supporting cast is also very good (not a big fan of Sonam Kapoor and Anushka Sharma’s performances, so not much to say there). The highlights of the movie for me were the performances of Vicky Kaushal and Ranbir Kapoor – Kaushal as Sanjay Dutt’s friend who stays by him through thick and thin (through the first half atleast) has some fine performances behind him, and this is one more under his belt. Same can be said of Ranbir, and I sincerely hope his bad run improves (this one will definitely help). This is a role for the ages, and Ranbir sinks his teeth into it. With the help of great support by way of make up and costume, Ranbir not only gets the physical aspects down pat, but portrays the emotional turmoil of Sanjay Dutt across many years with such ease, the performance does not seem like an imitation even for a minute. This is definitely a performance to remember; and should be one of the best of the year.

All said and done, go ahead and watch “Sanju”. Don’t go expecting a nuanced biopic that covers a lot of aspects of its controversial subject matter – it is a regular fun Rajkumar Hirani movie, and while it may not count among his best, it is a good one elevated by arguably the best ensemble cast he’s had, led by two performances that leave a lasting impression.