Sunshine Pictures’ Governor (UA) is about the RBI governor who saved India from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s. It talks about the untold true events from the early 1990s, when India faced an unprecedented economic meltdown. The film talks about the bureaucratic and political battles fought to save the nation from financial ruin and systemic resistance.
Suvendu Bhattacharjee, Saurabh Bharat, Ravi Asrani and Vipul Amrutlal Shah have written a story which is novel because one has never seen a financial thriller based on any RBI governor’s story, least of all this exciting and unprecedented chapter in the erstwhile RBI governor’s tenure. The screenplay, written by the four writers, is pretty engaging and engrossing. The first half is a bit slow-paced but the novelty of the story and the drama don’t allow the audience to get bored. The pace picks up after interval so much and the drama has so many twists and turns that it becomes very thrilling. In particular, there are some truly memorable scenes: the one in which the governor (Manoj Bajpayee) takes a tip from his peon’s actions and decides to apply the same philosophy to the country’s economy; the scene in which the deputy governor, CR (Noushad Mohamed Kunju), refuses to budge without taking finance minister Sinha’s (Rajeev Gaursingh) signature; the sequence in which the aircrafts are being readied for flying, and all the three vans leave the RBI premises with tonnes of gold; the sequence in which the RBI governor comes to the rescue of the second van carrying the gold; the scene in which data analyst Deepak Bindra (Devang Bagga) tears his American visa letter; and the scene in which peon Patil (Jaywant Wadkar) announces that his daughter has passed her IAS examinations — all these scenes and sequences are so original and so extraordinarily written that the writers deserve kudos. The scene of peon Patil thanking his seniors in office for his daughter’s achievement in academics and the one in which Deepak Bindra asks for peon Patil’s forgiveness actually bring tears to the eyes. Dialogues, penned by the four writers, are simple but extremely impactful. Some of them could also evoke claps in the cinema halls.
Manoj Bajpayee does a wonderful job as RBI (Rashtriya Bank of India) governor A. Ramanan. He plays the unassuming and simple governor with élan. Noushad Mohamed Kunju is excellent as the deputy governor, CR. Madhoo Shah is natural as Ramanan’s wife, Vandita. Adah Sharma is alright in the role of investigative journalist Aditi Verma. Paritosh Sand is endearing as senior staffer Sharma. Jaywant Wadkar shines as peon Patil. Rajeev Gaursingh is effective as finance minister Sinha. Devang Bagga leaves a fine mark as data analyst Deepak Bindra. Sanjay Sonu is realistic as Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. Ayushi Jeena has her moments as junior analyst Divya. Kaustubh Harit makes his mark as junior analyst Sanjeev. Pooja Pandey (as peon Patil’s daughter, Bharati), Poonam Patil (as peon Patil’s wife, Jagruti), Krisha Kurup (as Ramanan’s daughter, Madhavi), Mounis Ratta (as Aditi Verma’s intern, Paresh), Kurush Deboo (as Aditi Verma’s boss), Jigar Shah (as Dr. Manmohan Singh), Lakshmi (as CR’s wife, Jaya), Hridansh Soni (as CR’s son, Vikram), Shanker Lal (as Ramanan’s driver), Ajay Madhok (as Air Chief Marshal), Rajiv Kumar (as Vajpayee), Dilip Karad (as the man on the scooter), Aryan Pushkar (as Aditi’s nephew, Nikhil), Mohammad Nawaz (as the young man in the bank), Marcell D’Souza (as the bank manager), Anwar Hussain (as the shop owner), and the others lend adequate support.
Chinmay D. Mandlekar’s direction is fantastic. In spite of the subject being too technical, Mandlekar has made an interesting and gripping film based on it. Yes, the film may appeal more to the class and city audience, but it will also impress the youth. Amit Trivedi’s music and Javed Akhtar’s lyrics are in synch with the film’s mood. Mannan Shah’s background music complements the drama wonderfully. Vishal Sinha’s cinematography is lovely. Raj Shinde’s action and stunt scenes are in order. Rajesh Choudhary’s production designing is of a good standard. Meghna Manchanda Sen and Sanjay Sharma’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Governor is an entertaining thriller which will greatly appeal to the classes and city audience as also the youth. It may start slow but the jump in collections will be supremely perceptible once the word of mouth spreads. In some circuits, the film could prove to be a hit!
Released on 12-6-’26 at Inox (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru August Entertainment. Publicity: fair. Opening: alright (because of the discounted rates of admission). …….Also released all over. Opening ranged from below-average to average.