Making a movie titled Wazir is a risky move to open with. Having themes of chess introduced into it is riskier still. Why? Because It gets your audience thinking in that vein as well. As the director moves his pieces into place, as the audience you too start trying to guess what he is up to. Unless, he?s got something really unexpected up his sleeve, there?s a good chance you?ll see through his game. And that..in a nutshell is the issue with Wazir.
If you hear absolutely anything about the movie, and there?s a fair share of spoilsports who would like nothing better than to ruin things for you, there?s nothing left to go and watch so, read as few reviews as you can (barring this one, of course)
Wazir starts off strong. While the title credits start with a song, it goes for the jugular right from the first few scenes and has you invested in its characters and context. Unlike chess, however, to which the movie alludes every chance it gets, there are no pieces being laid out, no stage being set to reel you in. Still it all builds up well and you are engaged for majority of the movie. However, the climax squarely falls flat.
Maybe if you can?t figure it all out, you?ll have your moment of shock and awe. Me, I could see where it was all headed at the interval itself. Hardly the thrills one would hope for. Also, the sequences are contrived to the nth degree. Throughout the movie, while you?ll have every urge to do so, avoid questioning ?how? did this happen and just assume that is how it is meant to be. The sad part is, even if you accept the sequence of events as they play out, the finale doesn?t create those moments of disbelief that thrillers are supposed to be all about.
Some of the writing is par excellence. A few lines will get you to have a lump in the throat and could scarcely be presented more simply and effectively. Unfortunately that?s not the case throughout the movie and despite all its ?talk? of shatranj and the ?khel khel mein..? strain, the dialogues are quite straight forward.
The acting is top notch as well and the exchanges between the duo of Amitabh and Farhan (which forms a significant part of the movie itself) being particularly engaging. Some of the high strung scenes have Farhan screeching rather than performing, but he does equally well in the more restrained emotional bits. Aditi Rao Hydari while she has a side role, expresses plenty with her eyes and despite less dialogues makes her presence felt. Amitabh performs flawlessly but then he has far more calibre than what his (finally) simple character demanded.
The songs are the other bane of this a little over 2 hours of drama. While sung by the best crop of singers we have today, none of them are particularly melodious and most of the time they only slow down whatever little pace the movie would?ve developed so far.
Much like the game of chess, the checkmate move is what would?ve made this one stellar ? when one had the sinking feeling that they?ve been outwitted by a mind keener and sharper than their own and the gameplan is truly worthy of applause. Unfortunately, instead you come back with the feeling that you spent the last two hours playing with an amateur who while he had the best pieces and played what he thought was a winning move basically led you to the conclusion that you deserved a more worthy opponent.
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