Sunshine Pictures Pvt. Ltd.’s Bastar The Naxal Story (A) is one honest and strict police officer’s fight against the Naxalite movement.
Neerja Madhavan (Adah Sharma) is an upright police officer who is out to eliminate the Naxals and put an end to the Naxalite movement in India. Since Bastar in Chhattisgarh is the base of the Naxalites, Neerja strikes there. Just recently, they have killed soldiers and that does it. Neerja now swears revenge. Simultaneously, the Naxal movement is the subject matter of a court case, with Neelam Nagpal (Shilpa Shukla) fighting for the cause of the Naxalites, and Utpal Trivedi (Yashpal Sharma) holding brief for the anti-Naxal group.
Sudipto Sen and Amarnath Jha have written a story which lacks novelty except that it is from the point of view of a lady police officer this time. Otherwise, one has seen the story of Naxalites as either the main plot or a sub-plot in films. The screenplay, penned by Amarnath Jha, Sudipto Sen and Vipul Shah, is engaging in parts only. The drama often has a documentary-like feel to it, because of which it gets boring and monotonous. The first half, especially, often tests the audience’s patience. The drama does improve post-interval but that happens quite late in the day because many among the viewers have lost patience by then. Even otherwise, the drama is too local to have universal appeal. The climax, in which Neerja is in hospital, is a letdown because it is, after all, her fight against the Naxal movement. For the other protagonist, Ratna (Indira Tiwari), it is more of a personal vendetta mission. However, in the end, Ratna emerges as the ‘hero’ in a sense rather than Neerja. Dialogues (Amarnath Jha, Sudipto Sen and Vipul Shah) are quite realistic.
Adah Sharma breathes fire into her role and character of Neerja Madhavan. She acts very ably. Indira Tiwari is pretty effective as the wronged woman, Ratna. Vijay Krishna makes his presence well felt as Lanka Reddy. Raima Sen has her moments as Vanya Roy. Shilpa Shukla is effective as advocate Neelam Nagpal. Yashpal Sharma does a fair job as advocate Utpal Trivedi. Kishor Kadam is wonderful as Rajendra Karma. Gopal K. Singh is lovely as Neerja’s assistant, Srivastav. Purnendu Bhattacharya is impactful as Narayan Bagchi. Subrata Dutta leaves a fine mark as Milind Kashyap. Naman Nitin Jain is excellent as Milind and Ratna Kashyap’s son, Raman. Vikas Shukla is endearing as Neerja’s husband, Dr. Ajay. Anangsha Biswas leaves a mark as Lakshmi. Abhikalp Alok Gagdekar (as Kartam) is natural. Anamika Tiwari is good as Baruna. Gandhali Jain is alright as Yamuna Nagar. Ramesh Kundu is okay as the DGP. Sameer Trimbakkar performs well as the male judge. Sukanya Dhanda is alright as the female judge. Nidhi Mayuri Gaurav Rasane (as Rama), Priyank Raj (as Alok Puneet), Sanjay Borkar (as the gynaecologist), and the others lend the desired support.
Sudipto Sen’s direction is quite good but he has not been able to make a heart-touching drama. Bishakh Jyoti Majumdar’s music is okay. His background music is impactful. Lyrics (Amarnath Jha and Anant) are nice. Ragul Herian Dharuman’s cinematography is of a good standard. Vikram Mor’s action and stunt scenes afford thrill. Narendra Rahurikar’s production designing, and Madhab Raul’s art direction are proper. Dev Rao Jadhav’s editing ought to have been sharper.
On the whole, Bastar The Naxal Story is not entertaining enough to score at the box-office. It also lacks universal appeal as it is too local in flavour. It will remain quite a non-starter.
Released on 15-3-’24 at Inox (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Sunshine Pictures Pvt. Ltd. thru August Entertainment. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak at most of the places.