Having impressed with his performance in the Sacred Games series, Saif would have hoped for a good response for his much-awaited Lal Kaptaan. Ever since the look of Saif as Naga Sadhu surfaced on Social media, the buzz for the movie has been through the roof.
However, turning up to watch the first-day first show of the movie wasn’t as satisfying as was the hype and excitement for the movie.
Set in the 18th-century, the movie depicts the story of a naga sadhu (Saif) at a time when the Mughals have lost their grip and the East India company was making strides to strengthen its hold.
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The movie is filled with violence and vengeance and Saif as “Gossain” is all against an infamous traitor. The story starts from the dry and parched Bundelkhand region (actually shot in Rajasthan) which is trembled by the visit of Gossain. He is in search of Rehmat Khan (played by Manav Vij) who is a traitor of Maratha Kingdom.
The reason behind Gossain’s search of Rehmat Khan forms the core of the story. Gossain learns the art of war from the Naga Sadhus. Gossain never gives a rethought about silting down the throats or dragging down the dead bodies. Rehmat Khan is provided arms by the East India Company that help him to fly away with treasuries of Marathas.
For a second, one is likely to get similar kind of touch as of Thugs of Hindostan (probably because both the movies are set in 18th century North India), however, that soon vanishes away. Director Navdeep Singh has done good to utilize the parched geography as a character in itself, however, it fails to touch a chord with the audience.
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The slow pace of the movie makes you feel the need for a fast-forward so that you can unfold the mysteries of the script. Unfortunately when it all unfolds it turnouts to be not something isn’t worth the bucks. Saifs’ intense role and never seen before looks can be the click points but that’s not enough to hold you for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Deepak Dobriyal as Sancho Panza puts his heart out to the character and impresses the audience with his acting skills. Manav Vij as Rehmat Khan is true to the character assigned but doesn’t do much then putting a face to the role of villain.
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The actresses in the movie Sonakshi Sinha and Zoya Hussain hardly find any screen space. Sonakshi is like come and gone before you could have barely noticed that she was there. Zoya Hussain who plays Rehmat Khan’s concubine gets some more screen time than Sinha but that’s not enough to justify her role.
Overall this Saif starer is a slow-paced narrative that could have been depicted better. The drought of commercial success is still not over for Saif and “Lal Kaptaan” extends the wait. As a viewer, you can afford to give it a miss.
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My ratings for the movie would be 2.5/5.
