To clear the major misconception related with the title first, NANKANA has nothing to do with the cruel massacre of Nankana Sahib (now in Pakistan), an unforgettable chapter of Sikh history witnessed in 1921. Secondly it just vaguely presents the brutal riots between the three communities in 1947 and doesn’t display any great interpretation of the same. Thirdly it doesn’t entirely focuses on the relationship between a father and son, as showcased in the trailers. And lastly, instead of using the song in the film’s narration, it sadly adds the cult 'Ucha Dar Babe Nanak Da' along the end-credits (as a mere promotional track) resulting in a major disappointment.
In fact, the biggest merit of the film is that it isn’t another of those routine, crap comedies repeatedly made by the Punjabi filmmakers and doesn’t try overdoing the things in a forced melodramatic manner as seen in the recent ASEES.
NANAKAN begins in a calm-confident manner and keeps going at the same pace till the next half an hour making all the introductions. But nothing happening ahead in the storyline starts teasing you after a while and one really feels awkward when it states intermission all of a sudden (after a routine song), with nothing much happening on the screen in terms of storyline or plot.
Post interval one expects something drastic to happen soon, but that never occurs in the script, not even in the emotional sequences related with the kid that should have been the major highlight of the film. The twist in the storyline fails to create the much required tension and then it all ends in a highly amateurish manner with the protagonists constantly crossing the border without any difficulties. Interestingly the narration never clarifies the exact time period of the story around the partition on 15th August 1947 and keeps it pretty convenient.
In other words, a too simplistic and snail paced execution (directed by Manjit Maan) doesn’t let the film rise above an average fair and it’s only the presence of Gurdas that truly keeps your interest alive more than anything else, right till the very end.
NANAKAN isn’t impressive as a period film too and the recreation of the era doesn’t even give you the energy to discuss or mention it in great details. The art/set designing seems to have been done in the minimum resources available and the riots sequences actually give it away quite easily. The supporting cast is just okay in their given roles and Kavita Kaushik keeps trying hard to get it right making a visible effort. Also the kid couldn’t contribute or add to the emotions as required, for which the director holds the blame and not the kid for sure. It’s certainly not easy to extract great work out of so young artists and it all depends upon the captain of the ship, how well they are able to act in their important scenes (reminding me of a splendid act by the kid in GURU MANYO GRANTH released in 1977.)
In the music department, I was really expecting a great soundtrack as well as a much better background score in a film produced by the ‘Punjabi Cinema’s Music-Machine’ Jatinder Shah himself, featuring the experienced Gurdas Maan. But perhaps too much work in turns starts affecting your own creations, and that’s exactly what can be seen in NANKANA too.
Overall, the result is once again the same as recently felt while watching Rana Ranbir’s ASEES (interestingly he is also one of the co-writers of NANKANA’s script and dialogues along Surmeet Maavi). Its a noble effort, supporting the image of its lead actor, presenting an emotional tale giving the social message of communal harmony. But the end-result is nothing extra-ordinary, incapable of making any great, long lasting impact on the end-user with just a couple of scenes rising above the rest.
So you can watch it only for Gurdas Maan alone, who amazingly looks young and fresh like a 40+, coming up with another impressive performance, still playing the lead in the fourth decade of his illustrious career.
Rating : 2.5 / 5
