Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb was known for his resoluteness towards one goal and one goal only – that of taking the empire from his father.  He went to the extent of jailing his own father for no apparent reason other than greed for the throne.  That, is the apparent logic for this thriller based out of Gurgaon that shows the deep rooted nexus between politicians, gang lords (mafia) and cops.

Ajay (Arjun Kapoor) is the spoilt rich kid of the Yashwardhan (Jackie Shroff) family.  His father was a gang lord of Delhi, Haryana and Western UP.  He now runs the entire group as a front for all his illegal activities.  Over 25 years ago, he was to be killed in an encounter led by Vijaykant (Anupam Kher).  Instead, Yashwardhan’s son Vishal and wife Veera (Tanve Azmi) were killed.

 

25 years down the line, Vijaykant who could not bear failure has moved to a desolate corner of Gurgaon and is tired of his life.  His son Arya (Prithviraj) has grown close to his brother Ravikant (Rishi Kapoor) and together they are running a successful nexus between crime and police.  Ravikant’s son is also involved but his son-in-law has been kept away from this thanks to his intergrity.

 

Before Vijaykant kicks the bucket, he confesses to Arya that Veera and Vishal are still alive in Nainital.  Arya and Ravikant then take it upon themselves to finish what Vijaykant should have 25 years back.  To get Yashwardhan down.  How do they do it? Plant their own Aurangzeb – Vishal – in place of Ajay. Did I mention that Ajay and Vishal were twins?

 

I cannot quite place the Hollywood movie with the identical plot.  There have been several such similar instances. One movie that comes to mind is Dave (Kevin Kline) where one replaces the other as the President.  And Bollywood has never been alien to the concept of twins.  However, credit to Atul Sabharwal for building a decent storyline.  It would have been great if he had paid attention to the finer details and the finishing.

 

Atul Sabharwal is however helped by some really strong performances from the senior members.  Rishi Kapoor is outstanding.  Even the otherwise disappointing Jackie Shroff comes up strong.  Arjun Kapoor is great in parts and disappointing at times.  There is a permanent scowl on his face that makes him look sinister at times.  But he fails with the role of “goody two shoes” Vishal.  Not a good boy.

 

In all, Aurangzeb is the classic story of a movie that could have been much better than what it turned out to be.  Average overall with sparks of brilliance at regular intervals.  But a bit too stretched for its own good.  Was about 2 hrs plus.  But could have been less than 1 hour 45 minutes with the right cuts.  6 on 10.  Decent start to the week at the movies.

 

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