The Light: Swami Vivekananda

Utpal Sinha is a newbie director.  There is nothing that I could find about him on the web.  Whether it was the case before “The Light : Swami Vivekanand” or after the movie is worth looking into.  It is quite possible that there are enough people incensed with Sinha’s attempt at glorifying one Narendranath Datta.  So bad was the movie that a group of hardcore followers decided to erase his existence from the web.

Before you get serious, that’s just a random theory that has popped out of my extremely peeved mind after being put through over 2 hours of one of the worst movies that I have seen in recent times.  A movie that makes you wonder if directors these days have forgotten how to make a biopic.  Especially when there was a readymade story of one of the most powerful figures in Indian history.

Instead what we a subjected to is a mockery of Swami Vivekananda on his Sesquicentennial anniversary.  Name the department and you will find that Utpal Sinha has left enough proof of his rank incapability to make a movie.  Starting with the acting department where there are moments where you hope that the sequence of events in “The Last Action Hero” were actually possible.

Deep Bhattacharya who plays the lead role is incapable of emoting.  And Premankur Chattopadhyay who plays the role of Ramakrsihna Paramahans looks more like he is a drunk found at a street corner and not the great saint.  Both Deep and Premankur make you split your sides as they try their best.  And none of the support cast provides any semblance of hope either.

The screenplay is arduous as it creeps its way through the life of the great man starting from his childhood where he questions the existence of the caste system, to questioning the existence of God or a Greater Being, to his interactions with Shri Ramakrishna and of course his speech at the conference of religions at Chicago.  A journey that should have been inspirational turns out to be anything but that.

The movie drags along for over 2 hours and could have done with some more cuts.  Of course, if I was the editor, I would have cut the entire movie on basic principle.  The music or the attempt to use Tagore’s songs falls flat on its face.  The only part of the audience of 8 that seemed impressed were the 6 people other than me who were all Bengali. The 7^th was a teenager who had been forced into the theatre by her family.  Cinema like this should be banned not ones that create controversy.  1 on 10 for the worst of biopics that I have ever seen.  Gave the point only because its tax free.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBBQTiys5zM