Halla Bol-review

Introduction:
If you are familiar with movies like Ghayal, Damini, Ghatak, Lajja, The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Khakee, then Rajkumar Santoshi is no stranger to you. He is known for directing films having a social undercurrent. Halla Bol starring Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan, Pankaj Kapur and Darshan Jariwala is one such film that raises voice against rape, exploitation and illegal use of power and money. The movie is also believed to have certain uncanny resemblance to the Jessica Lal murder case. So does Halla Bol succeed in conveying its hard-hitting message? Are the voices heard? Read further to find out…



Halla Bol Story:

A small town boy Ashfaque (Ajay Devgan) aspires to become a bollywood superstar. He joins a street theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu [Pankaj Kapur], who uses street theatre as a medium to bring about an awakening in the masses. His determined struggle and hard work pays of and he shoots to fame as a super star of Bollywood in a short span of time. With fame and money, Sameer Khan (Ashfaque’s new screen name) gets self-obsessed and looses his real self, and in turn looses the love of his near and dear one’s. An incident that takes place at a party brings transformation within his self. Torn between his false prestige, a superstar image and humanity, Ashfaque emerges as a real life hero.

Halla Bol Review:
‘Raise your voice against all social evils and evil doers’ is the message that Rajkumar Santoshi conveys through the movie Halla Bol. The first 15 to 20 min in the movie is about the film industry, the self-obsessed star and a flashback of his good-old fameless days made me feel that Halla Bol is just another take on the film industry like the recently released Sudhir Mishra’s Khoya Khoya Chand. But the reels that followed proved me wrong. After the cruel episode at the party, the movie takes on a different track and puts you into a great deal of thinking. The second half of the movie gets into a serious tone as the hard-hitting message of the movie slowly emerges with each reel.

Rajkumar Santoshi excels with Halla Bol. The story has been deftly handled and a lot of scenes are executed with confidence that they leave a strong impact on our minds. The street play about a politician in the first half of the movie, the scene where Pankaj kapur comes across as a solid man when bullets are fired at him, Pankaj’s reaction when he is offered bribe by Abhay Bhargava near the pool side and Ajay Devgan urinating on the carpet at the minister house leaves you awestruck. The dialogues are well written. Ajay’s dialogue at the politician’s house, Vidya’s reply to the media when the media bombards her husband with questions regarding their marital life and Pankaj’s eruption towards the end when Ajay was hospitalized makes your hair stand still.

Halla Bol has its share of negatives too. A few sequences from the first half could be easily chopped off and added to the second half to make climax more effective. The climax was not ground-breaking and abrupt for a subject of this sort. Music by Sukhwinder is good. Cinematography is wonderful.

Halla Bol Performances:
Ajay Devgan, Pankaj Kapur and Darshan Jariwala are the pillars of the movie.

Ajay Devgan is excellent in his act. He is very good in his expressions and most of his scenes are laudable. Vidya Balan is equally competent in her limited role. Pankaj Kapur is mind blowing and delivers a power packed performance. Darshan Jariwala is first-rate.

Verdict:
On the whole Halla Bol holds a mirror into the society. It is an influential film. It has all chances to set the cash register ringing with strong word of mouth