Sahi Dhande Galat Bande - Review

There's an archaic law, which needs to be changed to be fair in today's times. The politicians and businessmen are taking advantage of the law and the common man is getting the raw end of the deal. The common man protests. The politicians and businessmen try to thwart the protest using the rulebook to their convenience. Sound familiar? And you thought there is only one such law that our country needs to be fixed. In this instance, we are not talking about an anti-corruption bill, in fact Sahi Dhande Galat Bande is talking about the laws related to Land Acquisition for public use. Unfortunately, it keeps it interesting only so much. And falls flat on its face with its simplistic solution.

Sahi Dhande Galat Bande is a mix of themes and styles. It's not that these things can't be mixed well in general, it's just that here, they didn't blend and flow well together. This is a film that makes huge spaces of lush green farms look rugged. Later you have a gun-fight in slow motion with whitewashed/bleached shots. Both stylizations work in their space but when put together in a film, they don't look like one product.

Sahi Dhande Galat Bande also tries to make a point. But, the point is ages old and there isn't a new way in which the film makes it. Fortunately, though the dilemmas the main character is made to go through are half-promising. And you are looking forward to how he is going to resolve it. It's a different matter that you are let down. But, getting there is fun and interesting.

The performances are all good and in character. If only, the writers dwelled a little more on characters other than the lead and brought out a little more color to their personalities. Because they looked like they had interesting facets, only we were not privy to them.

Maybe the only reason Sahi Dhande Galat Bande got me interested is the relevance of the topic is given this week's events in the country. I wonder what would have come of it if the release date wasn't coincidentally so close to Anna's protest against corruption. Surely, I doubt it has potential to ruffle too many feathers even now, because of the marketing budget constraints and the lackluster way in which it's done. But it might do well as the debut film of a director.