Title: The India Story
Director: Chettan DK
Cast: Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu, Shreyas Talpade, Trisha Sarda, Murli Sharma, Manish Wadhwa, Atul Tiwari, Kamlesh Sawant, Sham Mashilkar
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Many times when we see certain problems around us, many turn a blind eye without even getting to know the root cause. This happens until the very problem hits us and our family personally. The dreaded Cancer is one such problem. While we may see many suffering from the disease, only a few bother to investigate the root of the matter. The India Story is an attempt to show the mirror of hard-hitting facts. Whether this will 'reflect' in box office success or failure remains to be seen.
The film starts with the life story of an ex-Army man Major Yogesh Patil (Shreyas Talpade), whose life turns topsy turvy post the untimely death of his young daughter due to cancer. After being refused by the police station to file a case about his daughter, Advocate Archana Patil (Kajal Aggarwal) decides to stand by him like a rock in this fight and hence, join hands with him to take the fight to the courtroom.
Will this duo become successful in exposing the culprit/s is what forms the rest of the film.
Actors’ Performance
The film belongs to Shreyas Talpade and Kajal Aggarwal, who both, surprise everyone with stellar performances. As for Shreyas, be it his life as an army man or a helpless father, he makes no mistake when deep diving into emotional depths that’s loaded with pain and resilience.
Shreyas simply owns every frame and moment like a pro. Kajal too does a great job as she fine tunes the balance between her personal and professional life. Rest of the actors (esp. the child actor Trisha Sharda) carry the narrative convincingly on their shoulders.
Direction, Music and Aesthetics
For the film’s direction, while one may give full marks to Chettan DK for not resorting to cinematic liberties and sugar-coating facts before presenting them on the big screen, the fact also remains that, his magical touch is sorely missing in bunch of scenes (like the courtroom drama). Kudos to him for handling the narrative with utmost sensitivity. Scenes like ‘The Cancer Train’ truly make your eyes moist. While Sagar B Shinde struggles as a screenplay writer, he more yhan makes up for it with the film’s hard-hitting dialogues, which act as an icing on the cake!
The film’s cinematography (Nishant Bhagwat) and editing (Ashish Mhatre) add value to the film’s narrative. Mangesh Dhakade fails to create a taut musical score (mostly all the tracks fall flat), he just about manages to create the right ambience with the background score.
FPJ verdict
This film will surely an eye opener for many. But, if your eyes are 'already opened,' then you might as well wait for the film to be streamed on OTT!
