The kindest thing you can say about Saaho
is that it’s a full-blown theatre of the
absurd.
During promotional interviews, Prabhas kept
describing it as a screenplay film, which
I think meant that there are lots of twists
and turns.
Yes, there is that.
This is a labyrinthine story with double identities,
double crosses, a secret black box,
two lakh crore rupees that are missing, cops and criminals who aren’t what they seem and a fictional
and a fictional city called Waaji, which is described as Hindustan se door aur crime ke paas.
The film begins with a voice-over that establishes
what is going on and who is who.
But the plot is both bizarrely complicated
and incredibly silly.
At least twice in the film, characters ask
– what’s going on?
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you.
Saaho is essentially a string of expensive
set-pieces strung together
to showcase the leading man.
Prabhas returns to screen two years after
the blockbuster Baahubali franchise.
Amarendra and Mahendra Baahubali are a tough
act to follow.
So writer-director Sujeeth decided to throw
everything into the mix – we get Prabhas
as the charming, protective lover but also
as the dangerous bad boy.
Just in case you don’t get it,
there’s even a song called 'Bad Boy' in which Prabhas
stands on a tank while dozens of scantily
clad women and Jacqueline Fernandez
shimmy around him.
For no reason at all,
At the end of the song, the tank crushes two
cars
for no reason at all,
while Prabhas walks by, smoking a cigar,
in slow motion.
It’s macho posturing taken to the next level.
There’s also Prabhas as an avenging angel,
as a good son, and as a do-gooder.
It’s 50 shades of Prabhas – something
for every fan.
The actor combines a gentle manner with an
outsized physicality.
He has great screen presence but even those
mighty shoulders need a sliver of a story
to lean on.
In Saaho, more care and money seems to have
been invested in the action, the songs and
the wardrobe than the writing.
It feels like a film from the 80s – Sujeeth
gives us a world in which criminals in shiny jackets
have board meetings
to decide what their next move will be
Mandira Bedi plays a key legal
advisor – we’re told that she’s a Stanford
and Oxford graduate
so she wears handloom saris and silver jewelry.
Neil Nitin Mukesh is a character who is so
determined that he’s walking on a treadmill
with a bullet in his leg.
Meanwhile, the villains take pedicures and
bubble baths, while loud background music
underscores their evil.
Chunky Pandey decided that he would add to
menace by speaking very slowly – like
Truck…milne….se…kuch…nahin...hota.
Both the cops and the criminals in the film
are equally dimwitted.
Especially Amrita, played by Shraddha Kapoor.
In one scene, they lose the criminal they
are chasing because she gets drunk and starts
singing 'Psycho Saiyaan' instead of focusing
on the job.
And Amrita has clearly never heard of sexual
harassment at the workplace.
Because when she is asked by her senior, "Tum
jaisi khubsoorat ladki police department main
kya kar rahi hai?" she has no problem with
it.
I know that a popcorn entertainer like Saaho
isn’t driven by logic or coherence.
And I would have made my peace with it if
the film delivered a good time.
My biggest complaint is that it’s a crashing
bore.
A lot of hard work has gone into creating
the action and the extravagant sets.
The budget is a reported 350 crores but for
the viewer there’s little bang for the buck.
I got through it by getting involved with
the peripherals – like the many, muscled
henchmen who had fascinating haircuts and
tattoos.
They are all growling and glaring into the camera.
And it was a noticeably international team.
In one scene, we meet baddies called the Franco
Brothers.
Their introduction is – inko darr hi nahin
lagta.
Animals also appear randomly – an ostrich,
a python and a panther.
It’s just superbly nutty.
There so much on screen and so little that
sticks.
I hope the next time Prabhas decides to dedicate
years of his life to a project,
it's closer to Baahubali than it is to this.
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