KATHMANDU: At its best, 'Sanju' showcases the exceptional directorial prowess of Raj Kumar Hirani who has yet again hit a 'Sixer' spinning off the audiences into a joyous-sad ride into Sanjay Dutt’s life.

Ranbir Kapoor as Junior Dutt captivates us as Bollywood’s troubled macho man so free of restrictions on his actions that blur the line between naïve, good or, not so clean?

Sanju achieves what every film aims to: leave audiences singing praises, reciting the punch-lines or recalling moments in absolute awe - Sanju has it, all because of Ranbir Kapoor’s way with emotions, playful exuberance and Vicky Kaushal’s wit, for the major part.

Manisha Koirala as Nargis is as motherly as an actor can be: the actor, who has battled cancer, does not fail to reproduce same emotions as Nargis in reality might have had, making Sanju a memorable second innings for Koirala.

However, Paresh Rawal as Dutt Saab levels on par as it takes some time for audiences to relate Sunil Dutt’s biographical or vocal traits with him.

At its worst, the biopic, whether deliberately or by 'need of the story' omits portions of Dutt’s life where he can be convicted (not as a terrorist though). For instance, Hirani does not venture into depicting Dutt’s relation with his alienated daughter, his failed marriage and his close connection (as phone calls show) with mafias. Wouldn't all that be counted in as prerequisites for a biopic?

On the guilty side, the movie although called a biopic is not really a biopic in its true essence. If you are to make a person’s 'biopic' then ideally it is not virtuous to exaggerate scenes for sake of adding up to the already existing melodrama, is it? And by no means, I think, you can play with 'cinematic liberty' in a biopic dissolving fiction to stir emotions. If it had not happened, then don’t show it in a 'biopic', at least.

Adding few more off notes, the film utterly dismisses the idea of making most out of the female characters, except Koirala-Kapoor, mother-son duo’s inspirational and emotional ballad. The women in the movie are there as puppets, either for sex, ditching or as Dutt’s defendants. Anushka Sharma who plays a renowned novelist, Winnie, is no better than a typewriter that a close friend to Dutt who knows “facts” could sit on and type, how he/she perceives Junior Dutt.

Moreover, the audience is left wondering if mafia is the 'bigger' villain or the media? Hirani, as a critique of media takes it up quite too far, making us ponder whether the director is trying to pull back Dutt out of the darker side of the actor’s life. The movie does not take into account that Dutt, in fact, had questionable ties, be friendly or customarily, with the mafia dons. Although being friends with mafia does not make Dutt, a terrorist, the movie fails to show how or why he mingled in mafia affairs, in the first place.

Not a complete misfire or disappointment though, Sanju has a story to tell, be it exaggerated to one person’s good, it has all the elements but this brilliant movie would have been more of a maestro’s stroke if reality wasn’t blended in a lens of fiction for the sake of drama.

Rating: 3 out of 5