The curse of the second half is a fact related with many recent films released by the big banners. But WAZIR can easily be presented as one of the most perfect example of the same with so much to offer and impress in its first half that simply gets ruined and forgotten by the makers in the second, giving you a shocking experience in the end unexpectedly.
Narrating my personal experience of watching it at a single screen theatre, I got my first doubt, when the gatekeeper told me that the entry will begin at around 12.45 pm (of its first show of 12-12.30) as the film was a short one of just 103 minutes in duration. And then the second confusion was felt when it began with a full length song right away along with the credits (following the old format seen in the golden era). But fortunately that was it, as WAZIR started delivering some solid well shot content in the very next minute post the song with some splendid action and emotional sequences put together silencing one and all. The engrossing content with all well-directed, enacted and written sequences continued till the next 50 minutes along a pulsating background score enhancing it well. And the dialogues really promised that something exciting is coming ahead focusing on the game of chess with lines such as, “Khel Khel Mein, Khel Khel Ke, Khel Khel Yeh Aa Jayega".
However, the excellence simply stopped like a dream the moment its title character WAZIR came on screen in a hamming scene and from here onwards suddenly the film changed its gear moving on to a completely illogical or rather foolish path with cinematic liberties taken so recklessly and loopholes as big as a pond questioning the thinking abilities of the viewers in an arrogant style. As a matter of fact, many in the theater could be found chatting and checking their cell phones post interval with the slow songs killing the pace even in a 103 minutes film making you strongly feel the repulsion.
In short, whatever praises or positives I had in mind about the film related to its brilliant shot taking, engaging story progression, crisp editing, an interesting cast ensemble, few likable songs, some well written dialogues, intense performances and more, simply turned into big negatives post intermission and WAZIR became an extremely disappointing dud in the end with neither the foolish suspense twist nor the laughable execution working in any manner in the strange final hour so shockingly.
But here since the film is a suspense thriller, I am not going to write any spoilers pointing the huge flaws in its various sequences defying all the logics. Yet, would like to add that WAZIR might be able to impress the friends who are not into reading/watching investigative crime thrillers or ‘who dun it’ novels/movies made all over the world. But for friends (like myself) who desperately keep trying to satisfy their grey cells reading & watching all worth experiencing suspense driven projects on a regular basis, the film is nothing more than a technically strong, childish attempt to ape all those great mystery thrillers of the west. And the influence becomes even more evident when you find the name of Vidhu Vinod Chopra in the credits as the storywriter as well as a contributor in the script and editing department too apart from being the producer.
As the director Bejoy Nambiar (SHAITAAN, DAVID) has surely taken a few noticeable steps ahead in WAZIR looking at the way he handles the first half. But keeping in mind the later part, its as if he lost the track completely either due to an influential figure guiding him from the back or due to the desperate will to present it as a Hollywood film revealing the surprising twist in the end as their set format. In any case he actually lost a great opportunity given, since WAZIR seriously could have been a rare mystery thriller in Hindi cinema revolving around the game of chess with a different and more convincing culmination.
Stating the film’s major merit, it’s the performances led by the icon, who once again gives you a solid reason of why he has been ruling millions of hearts since the 70s. As Pandit Omkar Nath Dhar, Amitabh Bachchan simply saves the film from becoming a complete disaster, especially in the first half till we get to see his meeting with the so called WAZIR. At the same time, I frankly couldn’t appreciate the expression repeatedly using the word ‘Yaara’ in his scenes with Farhan, which actually looked like an avoidable, deliberate addition reducing the overall impact of their conversation. Having said that, the other truth remains that there still isn’t anyone even close to Amitabh Bachchan enacting a drunkard on screen since all these decades because he just does it flawlessly in an adorable manner. On the other hand, Farhan Akhtar does full justice to his character in the first half and is a delight to watch too, till he begins behaving in a silly manner doing all those unimaginable things in Kashmir and later moving freely too (watching the video clip), post making the big kill.
Apart from these two lead actors, WAZIR has the charming Aditi and a hamming Neil Nitin Mukesh in a few scenes appearance along with two big names wasted quite foolishly as John Abraham and Prakash Belawadi (of MADRAS CAFÉ fame). Plus I also felt Manav Kaul not utilized well as per his untapped capabilities in the given role.
In the technical department, no doubt WAZIR excels in the cinematography and background score to a large extent. But in the music section (with only Tera Bin leaving an impact), this is yet another project which proves that having too many names in the composer’s list is not the way to get a great soundtrack. A trend being followed blindly by almost all the recent films and banners.
Summing up, where the first half of WAZIR inspires you to appreciate it wholeheartedly, the second half and the big cinematic liberties taken doesn’t allow you to do so at all, bringing down the film to a mediocre level. No doubt it had a great basic premise that could have resulted in one of the best crime-mystery-thrillers made till date, intelligently woven around the game of chess as promoted extensively. But with nothing of that sort happening in the later part, it fails to materialize on the subject in any productive manner.
For instance, I would have loved to see Pandit Ji laying an unimaginable trap for the minister with the big assistance coming from the friendly police officer (Farhan) and then they both defeating the enemy, exposing the crime nexus in steps, exactly like a game of chess killing every associate of the opponent in turns.
Anyway in the present form, if you are ready to ignore some awfully bad loopholes just because it’s the only big release this Friday featuring two talented names, then the choice is all yours. But as per my opinion, WAZIR can only be seen if you are a die-hard fan of Amitabh alone, especially for his two specific sequences. One, when he plays the game of chess with Farhan presenting his ‘hugely famous’ drunkard act in the same incomparable mode as always, and two when he meets Aditi and her mother infusing new life into them, bringing tears in your eyes feeling the intense pain.
Rating : 2 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 just for the two particular scenes mentioned in the last lines.)
