Prassthanam Review: Blood really is thicker than water

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Prassthanam Review: Blood really is thicker than water

Prassthanam takes on a star cast that can brighten up any screen.

By Neha Mahamood

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Published: Fri 20 Sep 2019, 6:15 PM

Political dramas are not new to Bollywood. Rajneeti and the Sarkar series all tackle the issue of politics and the drama that ensues, but Prassthanam takes it a notch higher and adds the family angle to it.
Directed by Deva Katta, who also directed the original Telugu film this is based on, Prassthanam takes on a star cast that can brighten up any screen. But does the movie live up to the expectations the audience has from this stellar cast and a filmmaker with cult following? We were eager to find out.
The film revolves around Baldev Pratap Singh (Sanjay Dutt), his wife Saroj (Manisha Koirala), his legitimate son with her Vivaan (Satyajeet Dubey), and his step children Ayush (Ali Fazal) and Palak (Chahatt Khanna) from Saroj’s first marriage to Baldev’s brother.
The movies sits on the plot that Baldev prefers Ayush over Vivaan and how the latter craves what Ayush has but can’t seem to make his father care for him. Ayush has been groomed to follow in his father's footsteps so politics and all of its complex mind games come naturally to him. As Baldev says, “He was born for it.”
As the movie's plot navigates its way through family drama, relationship turmoils and political upheavals, Dutt shines the brightest, as always. His portrayal of a patriarch who loves his people and his loyalty to his family and his responsibilities reflect his character’s priorities. Fazal wins us over as he holds his own making us empathise with his emotions thanks to his nuanced acting.
Chunky Pandey plays the villain and though he doesn’t have much screen time his menace and greed comes across in every shot he’s in.
As the movie reaches its culmination, we lose sight of who the bad guy is as everyone seems to have turned into one. And that's the beauty of the narrative, depicting what politicking can do to even the best of human beings.
The one thing we didn’t particularly like was the abruptness of the song placements. One minute Ayush is contemplating murder and the next a sleazy item number comes on. The songs in themselves were, however, entertaining and quite memorable.
Prassthanam
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Manisha Koirala, Ali Fazal, Jackie Shroff, Chunky Pandey
Director: Deva Katta
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars


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