‘THE POWER’ | 13 January, 2021

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Galani Entertainments and PEN Studios’ The Power is an action film which moves on several tracks. Thakur (Mahesh V. Manjrekar) is an underworld don who lives with his wife, Uma (Medha Manjrekar), two sons — Ram (Jisshu Sengupta) and Devi (Vidyut Jammwal) — and a daughter (Mrunmayee Deshpande). Devi then goes abroad and is settled there. While Ram is involved in his father’s nefarious activities, Devi has nothing to do with it. Ram is married to Shehla (Yuvika Chaudhary). Shehla’s brother, Ranjeet (Prateik Babbar), is married to Ram and Devi’s sister (Mrunmayee Deshpande). Ranjeet stays with the Thakur family and is also involved in the family underworld business. Devi loves Pari (Shruti Haasan) who is the daughter of Anwar (Zakir Hussain). Devi and Pari are all set to get married.

There is a rival don, Rana (Sachin Khedekar) who works with other dons, Francis Pinto (Sameer Dharmadhikari), Fakira (Chetan Hansraj) and Ronnie Pinto (Sudhanshu Pandey). It is Rana’s endeavour to become the king of the underworld by, if need be, even killing Thakur.

The story moves on the various aforementioned tracks which are all interwoven. Who remains the superman of the underworld in the final tally? Do Devi and Pari get married? Is Devi able to stay away from the underworld? These and a host of other questions are answered in the end.

The story, penned by Mahesh V. Manjrekar, is routine and doesn’t have even a hint of novelty. But there are so many turns and twists that it keeps the audience involved. Of course, since the story has action galore, it would appeal to the masses but the class audiences will not be impressed at all. Mahesh V. Manjrekar’s screenplay is not just routine but it is also one of convenience. For instance, the entire Thakur family has been shown to be so dumb that they can’t figure out who is leaking information to the other dons. And this, although they are aware that there is a mole among them. Similarly, Devi, who is otherwise, so level-headed, speaks a bit insultingly to Anwar (his to-be father-in-law), making it amply clear to the viewers that the scene has been added so that there would now be a misunderstanding between him (Devi) and Pari. Shehla’s change of heart in the climax comes like a bolt from the blue. It is scenes like these that irritate the viewers and give them the impression that they’ve been taken for granted. Mahesh Manjrekar’s dialogues are very good at several places.

Vidyut Jammwal does well as Devi but the audience would expect more action from his character. There are many non-action scenes of his, which don’t catch the fancy of the viewers. Of course, the action scenes are death-defying and very exciting, in which Vidyut shines a great deal. Shruti Haasan is good but she needs to improve in emotional scenes. Mahesh V. Manjrekar delivers a fantastic performance as Thakur. Sachin Khedekar makes his presence amply felt as Rana. Zakir Hussain is very impressive as Anwar. Jisshu Sengupta is terrific as Ram. He utters swear words with the flourish of a pro. Prateik Babbar should guard against getting typecast — eccentric ways et al. Yuvika Chaudhary is first-rate as Shehla. Mrunmayee Deshpande does a decent job. Medha Manjrekar lends very good support. Ganesh Yadav makes his mark. Sonal Chauhan stands her own in a brief special appearance as the girl who tries to woo Devi. Sameer Dharmadhikari (as Francis Pinto), Chetan Hansraj (as Fakira) and Sudhanshu Pandey (as Ronnie Pinto) lend the required support. Bharat Dabholkar is okay as police inspector Dayal. Vidyadhar Joshi has his moments as Bhau. Dhananjay Mandrekar is effective as police inspector Shinde. Sarvesh Parab is outstanding in a brief role as driver Babban. Pramod Walkar makes his presence felt in the role of Bandya. Salil Ankola has screen presence as the body builder. Others provide the necessary support.

Mahesh V. Manjrekar’s direction is fair. Like his script, there is no freshness in the narration too. But to his credit, it must be added that his narrative style has a fast pace. Of course, there are dull moments in the drama but that has less to do with the pace and more to do with the routineness of the proceedings. Music (Salim-Sulaiman) and lyrics (Kumaar) are in synch with the mood of the film. A couple of songs sound good in the film. Prasad S.’s background music is reasonably impactful. Rakesh Rawat’s cinematography is very nice. Ravi Verma’s action scenes are very thrilling and exciting. Art Monk’s art direction is of a good standard. Sarvesh Parab’s editing is quite sharp.

On the whole, The Power does not have much novelty and, therefore, it remains an ordinary film with less power to entertain.

The film will release on 14-1-’21 on ZeePlex.