It would be hard for Ranbir to surpass this performance. His breakdown during the premiere of Rocky, the scenes during drug rehab, his jail scenes - all look and feel hauntingly real and so do those scenes where he’s being a stud. Ranbir has somehow convinced himself that he’s actually Sanjay Dutt - and hence the physical transformations and the voice modulations look so convincing as they contain part of Dutt’s soul. And Ranbir Kapoor’s performance gives you all that and more. It’s a story of a troubled young man fighting his demons and carving for himself a path towards redemption. Hirani has taken a risk in assuming that the audience knows what’s there to know about Dutt’s life and career and he chooses instead to showcase an emotionally fragile son rather than a superstar. The only industry figures you’ll see are Mahesh Manjrekar - seen in the promos, and Tabu, when she hands him his Filmfare Award. Sonam Kapoor represents the army of girlfriends whose hearts he broke and their confrontation scene is seeped in dark humour and gives you a glimpse of Sanju’s irresponsible side. Don’t expect to see a parade of girlfriends either. Don’t expect to see Salman Khan or Kumar Gaurav - two names which were being much touted - in the film. So Hirani has kept clear of including real-life colleagues and friends in the film. Dutt’s life involves so many characters and touches so many strands that it wouldn’t have been possible to do justice to all within the frames of a feature film. It’s only through the persistent efforts of his father that he somehow got bail and later it’s shown that the TADA charges get dropped and he’s only jailed under the Arms Act. He’s jailed under TADA, which means he won’t get bail.
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He manages to come out of it, only to find himself embroiled in another controversy - he’s accused of being a co-conspirator in the Mumbai blasts case and is also arrested for unauthorised possession of an assault rifle. Sanju is already on alcohol and drugs and the death of his mother, Nargis (Manisha Koirala in a brilliant cameo) pushes him further on that route. Another fictional character, biographer Winnie Dias (Anushka Sharma), helps him chronicle his life. It’s the story of a man trying to be the good son, not knowing that parents accept you with your failures. The gold standard is in the form of Sunil Dutt (Paresh Rawal), successful actor, producer, husband and father who has set such a high mark that the son knows he’ll surely fail trying it reach it and hence doesn’t even want to try. Both are fast friends but whereas one introduces him to the vices of the world, the other insists he takes a look a the virtues as well. Life’s all about choices and two fictional characters - God (Jim Sarbh) and Kamlesh (Vicky Kaushal), represent those for Dutt. There is plenty of drama and thankfully no melodrama. Even the highly charged emotional scenes - and there are many - have a silver lining of a funny incident waiting in the wings to take their sting away. And you keep laughing till the end credits roll. You begin smiling when the first scene, involving Sanju’s reading of his biography, begins.
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Humour is both Hirani’s sword and shield and he has used it well. But the treatment is such that you don’t end up feeling like you’ve watched a news documentary.
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It’s a reexamination of the life of one of our most controversial film stars and Rajkumar Hirani has made every episode seem as real as it could get. Drugs, sex, AK 56, RDX - it’s all there, make no mistake. Bolega to, faad diya bhidu! Rajkumar Hirani has written, directed and edited the film Sanju, based on real life actor and friend Sanjay Dutt and has pulled no punches in his treatment.