Irada Review

Expectations:

In the late 60's era our Hindi cinema witnessed some realistic type of films with a strong message attached to it. The basic agenda of such films was to create social awareness through the medium of cinema.

Some people named these films as art house films while others called them as parallel cinema. Whatever the name might be, but we did witness some of India’s finest work in the form of such realistic films.

As per the passing time we also witnessed many big names getting associated with these social awareness type of films and found a niche audience who loves these types of films. Filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Ketan Mehta, Jabbar Patel, Hansal Mehta and many more directors kept venturing into tabooed territories.

The latest film to join this niche, but impactful group is 'Irada' starring Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi. So, let's find out whether ‘Irada’ will manage to create the right impact for its targeted audience or might end up being yet another preachy docu-drama type of film.

Story:

'Irada' is a story an ex-army man Parabjeet Walia(Naseeruddin Shah), who decides to find out the root cause for people in his vicinity suffering from cancer. His investigation leads to a corporate mogul Paddy Sharma (Sharad Kelkar) and his associate chief minister Ramandeep Braitch (Divya Dutta). A mysterious bomb blast takes place in Paddy Sharma's factory for which NIA officer Arjun Mishra (Arshad Warsi) is deployed by the chief minister. What happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technical Details:

The story on paper is mind-blowing. It's very hard hitting and has some shocking facts attached to it. The makers have dared to expose the reality by showing its execution and end results. Sadly, everything goes in vain as the screenplay is cluttered and disjointed.

The scenes keeps popping out abruptly without any details, making it hard to connect. The story narration is confusing and uninteresting. The slow pace keeps your inquisitiveness levels, but also keeps you feel detached with the film. The first half tries to show a series of events which sets the puzzle, but it takes sweet time to come on the right track and solve them.

It's just in the second half and that too in the pre-finale portion the movie comes on the right track as Arshad starts his investigation, his interaction with Divya Dutta followed by his realization part when he travels in the cancer train. These scenes and couple of conversations with Naseeruddin Shah are the only key points in this highly dragging and boring film.

The whole purpose of the film gets diluted due to bad narration and bland screenplay. The cinematography is good and the movie has been presented in a decent manner.

Music:

Music is nothing great except for 'Chaand Rajai Odhe' by Papon, which is a hidden gem.

Direction:

Director Aparnaa Singh comes up with a hard-hitting and powerful subject which would have made wonders if this movie was presented in the form of docu-drama or with an impactful screenplay. Failing to which the whole motive behind the movie is lost. The bad editing ruins it further more making the scenes look disjointed and abrupt at many places.

Performances:

Naseeruddin Shah is good, but nothing great. We have seen him portraying such roles for more than a dozen times. Arshad Warsi is great in his part and it's good to see him doing such meaningful roles after a long time. Sagrika Ghatge is highly wasted. Sharad Kelkar and Rajesh Sharma lend good support. Divya Dutta is best of the lot.

Final Verdict:

On an overall basis,'Irada' is a wilful display ofgood motive and powerful performances. But, thanks to the dull screenplay, slow narration and bad editing make this movie a painful task for the viewers.