Though this film Ram Setu, director Abhishek Sharma appears to have decided to convince his film’s audience that archaeological facts scream out loud about the existence of the Ram Setu bridge and that it was built by men — after the birth of Lord Rama — and not a natural formation as claimed by some geologists. A caveat from me before I go any further: The review is based solely on the cinematic experience of the two-and-a-half hour movie and does not take into consideration religious beliefs or political affiliations.
In the beginning of the movie, the slide of Cape of Good Films, which is in charge of the movie production, has a hidden message for those who are willing to read the signs and are not waiting for the obvious. Like most of his movies, this Akshay Kumar movie is also completely dependent upon his star power. However, when an actor tries to pursue social agenda through his films, he would end up being the postman of the cause and affects the movie’s credibility.
In this movie, Akshay Kumar portrays the role of a person who lives on empirical data and scientific proof, and not opinions and beliefs. The scene where he speaks about Ram Setu in the court hints that metamorphosis of opinion is the offing. However, the actor’s change of heart is so abrupt that it seems that the director has taken the common sense of the audience for granted.
While he gets on the wrong side of the system, and “the government” is blamed for supporting the rouge industrialist Indrakant (Nazeer), it is not difficult to fathom where the narrative comes from and you could see the change in the man and his willingness to get material as reliable as from the pundits of the WhatsApp University.
Akshay Kumar gets convinced that Ram Setu was man-made and not natural formation after local guide AB’s (Satyadev Kancharana) eloquence. Immediately, he emerges in Sri Lanka with evidence to prove that Ram Sethu was a man-made bridge. This transformation is so juvenile that it robs the film of whatever authenticity it had in the beginning.
The film shows men and women, including scientist Dr Sandra (Jacqueline Fernandez), in a sailing laboratory, who throw up scientific words in good measure. Parvesh Rana, who heads the team, frames the facts in the manner Indrakant wishes them to be.
The team in the lab and in the wild and scenic Sri Lanka behave as if they are the first team that is asking the obvious questions and finding the answers waiting to be told in their favour. As a result, the reasons given for the belief that Ram Setu is more than a mythical construction or a geographical formation are over simplistic. One fundamental question that goes abegging is how come even if it is a natural formation; we would be allowed to tamper with it!
To look like a professor, Akshay Kumar sports a salt-and-pepper beard and has puts on a very predictable performance. Jacqueline, playing a scientist, appears to be intended to enhance the film’s humour element.
Satyadev Kancharana is the only person who adds some credibility to the entire tale. Coming as it does just a couple of weeks after the Telugu film Godfather shows that Satyadev is in good form and should be encashing the good times. Amazing cinematography and poor graphics are also facets of the film that make it a tad amateur. The script is more than anything else needed to be buried outside the dig and dust of any enthusiastic archaeologist.
