Sanju is a strange, strange effort
Sanjay Dutt (Ranbir Kapoor) is a rich brat, but he loves his dad and he really does his best. That’s the tone of director Rajkumar Hirani’s biopic on the Bollywood star and overall bad boy.
Born to famous parents — father Sunil Dutt was an actor and Parliamentarian; mother Nargis, a legendary actress — Sanju didn’t know how to cope with expectations, we’re told.
It’s a strange, strange effort from the get-go. Hirani and screenplay writer Abhijat Joshi begin with a disclaimer of sorts — an elaborate scene where a fictional biographer, reading from Chapter 1 of his tale, compares Dutt with Mahatma Gandhi. The actor, now in his 50s, is shown to be so furious with this that he hurls a shoe at the man. He considers himself an ordinary person! I think we’re meant to applaud. Along comes a new biographer, Vinnie Diaz (Anushka Sharma). Through her eyes, we see a Sanju ashamed of immoral womanising. Conflicted.
There’s a subplot about how Sanju found love with a woman named Ruby (Sonam Kapoor), and how the end of that affair left a scar on his psyche. How this scarred psyche met a man named Zubin Mistry (Jim Sarbh), who ushered in the age of drugs, alcohol and women. Sanjay is a mess, but a sad mess. Also, a mess caused by others.
Thanks to Ranbir’s nuanced performance, the movie still holds your attention. But we’re now in the second half and there has been just a fleeting mention of terror and AK-56 rifles. Hirani’s characteristic humour keeps the mood light, but this time it feels too light.
Eventually, there are riots, an actor whose producers have direct links with the underworld, and a media prone to ‘sensationalism’. The unrelenting media glare is what does him in, we’re told.
It’s bad enough that Sanju tells you nothing new about Dutt; what’s even worse is that it barely skims the surface of what we do know.
The songs feel out of place and only heighten the sense that this is a film struggling to find its feet. Manisha Koirala is lovely as Nargis. Ranbir works so incredibly hard. But the simple, linear narrative gives them nowhere to take their angst. Despite a performance that Ranbir will look back on with pride, Sanju remains very inspid fare.