The posters outside the theatre gave me thoughts reminiscent of Lagaan; the atmosphere seemed the same and Sanjay Dutt was wearing a dhoti too. Although I didn’t expect the film to be as good as Lagaan, I was still looking forward to Pitaah mainly because of the strong subject it deals with. After successive flops of Tera Mera Saath Rahen and Ehsaas, Mahesh Manjrekar now reverts to his sure bet, the deadly Dutt. The Dutt/ Manjrekar combination has been quite successful over years with movies like Vaastav, a hard-hitting and emotional tale, and Kurukshetra, an intelligent cop story. So does Pitaah live up to the expectations? How does Bollywood’s first offering for the New Year compare with the duo’s past movies?

Rudra (Sanjay Dutt) is a hardworking man who leads a banal but happy life with his wife Paro (Nandita Das) and his children- twin sons and a 9-year-old daughter. The village he lives is under the rule of Thakur Narayan Singh (Om Puri), a ruthless and selfish man who doesn’t mind killing an innocent simply because the latter can beat him in a race. His sons are no better; the elder one even sleeps with his servant and later gives her money to drop the child. The Thakur imposes himself on the villagers, terrorises them and instills fear into their minds so that no one can challenge him. One day, a man dares to come up against him and that man is none other than Rudra. The reason for this is that his 9-year-old daughter has been raped, molested and injured by the Thakur’s sons and consequently she has fallen into coma. Rudra is no longer the docile, contingent person he used to be; this incident has caused a transformation in him. He’s now eager to make these sinners pay for their deeds and punish them. What will happen to his family and daughter and whether he will succeed forms the final portions of the movie.

The movie has its share of pluses and minuses. The main positive aspect of the film is it’s absorbing first half! The first hour of the movie is absolutely amazing and will leave you hooked to your seat. It makes you know the characters, notice them and care for them (mainly for Rudra and his wife). The pre-intermission also has some wonderfully directed and performed scenes like the one where Rudra and his family learn that the little girl has been raped. Incidentally, all the best scenes come from the first part of the movie.

If only, the second half could have been the same. Post intermission, the film gets sour with some unnecessary and extremely violent scenes thrown in. The movie gets too predictable and it suffers from effortless direction. From a never-ending climax to a badly etched and written screenplay, the second half is avoidable. For instance, we have Nandita Das being hit at the back with an axe and minutes later, she is able to lift a boulder (easily 30kg) and crush it on the villain. We’re not explained how and why Jackie Shroff changes his behaviour towards Sanju and his family. Another drawback is the lack of events which occur; the movie looks stale and drags and drags until it finally ends.

Another negative point comes in the story itself. It is in a way very badly written. Mahesh Manjrekar has led by examples in his previous movies like Astitva, Nidaan, and Vaastav. However, this time he falters in storytelling. The best plot would have been to show the father fight for justice rather than taking law in his hand. What will he achieve by killing so many people? That will only calm his anger but will not return the virginity of his child. Wonder what will happen if all fathers go on a killing spree like that if their daughters have been raped. The rate of crimes can well double in the world.

Direction by Mahesh Manjrekar is bilateral. He is nowhere near to best like in Vaastav and Astitva. However, he excels in the first half, handling every scene with utmost care, extracting good performances and showing interest in his work. After intermission, he loses track and direction becomes loose and uninspiring. This is debatable though. It is probably mainly because of the lack of comedy, romance and chills present in the movie. We must still credit him for extracting amazing performances from Sanjay Dutt, Om Puri and Nandita Das.

Technically the film is good. Cinematography by Vijay Arora is well done. The climax scene in the jungle is very well shot. Background music by Rahul Ranade suites the movie to a T. It gels very well with the mood of the film. Costumes are different but well done. Nitin Chandrakant Desai shows us again what a capable art director he is. He has created such a vast set for this film that you feel the action takes place in a real village in Uttar Pradesh. The sets aren’t very appealing but the way they’ve been done will leave you speechless. Editing by V.N Mayekar is good for once. The film itself is on a running of 2hrs 30 min, so no scene really needs to be deleted.

Music by Anand Raj Anand is atrocious. The least said would be better. They have no repeating values and still the best song in the soundtrack “Nadiya Kinare” wasn’t included. Picturisations are nothing good. They are like the songs: BAD. Also, the placement of the songs is badly executed. At least two of them pop out of nowhere. Dialogues are good and suit the movie well.

On to the performances now. Sanjay Dutt excels as Rudra and this surely ranks among the best in his career. He gives a restrained performance letting his eyes and facial expression speak for him. He is terrific in the emotional scenes with Nandita Das and equally good during the climax where he’s facing the Thakur. All in all, a superlative performance from him. Nandita Das is very competent as Paro making her character come alive on screen. This is one of her major plus points- she always makes the viewer feel her presence. At times she is calm and at times aggressive and she does all that with aplomb. Om Puri is natural and his dialogue delivery is first class. However, he doesn’t have much scope in the second half. The child artists enact their part well. Mita Vashisht as Om Puri’s wife is great. The rest of the cast lends able support.

Some scenes deserve special mention most notably: 1) The beating up of a villager by the Thakur because he stole food to feed his hungry daughter. Shocking!!! 2) The rape scene. 3) How the little girl is taken to the hospital 4) When Sanju and his wife learns that their daughter has been raped.

So Pitaah may not be the best product from the duo Manjrekar/Dutt (Vaastav and Kurukshetra are better) but it is still an enjoyable flick which deserves to be seen for it’s amazing first half and performances mainly by Sanjay Dutt. If you’re a hardcore Sanjay Dutt’s fan then don’t miss that Pitaah by any cost.