Aakhri Sawal

Aakhri Sawal Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Namashi Chakraborty, Amit Sadh, Sameera Reddy, Tridha Choudhury

Director: Abhijeet Mohan Warang

What’s Good: The twist at the end is a whopper, and the storytelling format is unique

What’s Bad: Sameera Reddy’s over-the-top facial expressions

Loo Break: At your risk!

Watch or Not?: If you are fair and a rational and objective thinker, decidedly.

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 117 minutes

User Rating:

The film begins with a Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, Srinath, hacked to death in Kerala many years back. It moves to 2026 Mumbai, when Professor Gopal Nadkarni (Sanjay Dutt, occasionally bursting into Marathi to prove his ‘real’ origin!) rejects Vicky Hegde’s (Namashi Chakraborty) thesis on RSS.

Nadkarni is challenged by an irate Vicky for the reasons for his doing it and is told by his student and disciple that he will accept the thesis’s rejection only if the professor publicly answers five questions about the RSS to everyone’s satisfaction. He accuses Prof. Nadkarni of being an RSS puppet, and when the professor slaps him in a moment of pique, he goes to town about it.

Vicky slams the RSS for being an anti-national and violent organization with dubious, divisive aims and even criminal intent. Two of the questions are satisfactorily answered by Nadkarni on the college campus itself. The slap garners all-India attention (we are told ‘global,’ and the map of India is shown—a small directorial glitch!!) and triggers a student body strike.

Not satisfied at all, Vicky challenges his mentor to a public debate, and the left-oriented Prof. Pallavi Menon (Sameera Reddy) eggs him on to go live on TV with the professor. Her credo, “The Left is always right” and that “Narratives should be turned into the truth!” is also supported by interested politicians who want to discredit both the professor and the organization.

The third and fourth questions are convincingly answered by the professor. The fifth is the “Aakhri Sawal,” the last question. And what happens when that is asked?

Aakhri Sawal Movie Review: Script Analysis

Utkarsh Naithani’s script is first-rate, addressing truth and the built-up narrative about the RSS very adroitly and convincingly. His dialogues are superbly on-point, and though the idea behind the film is to justify the organization that has just completed 100 years, the screenplay digs into both Hindu and Muslim religions to dish out facts that are not widely known, like the significance of the “baby” beneath the Nataraj statue and the requirements for constructing a mosque as prerequisites in Islamic texts.

The format of a TV debate at once makes the whole story contemporary, and the hypocrisy of the media is exposed when the debate’s host, Aditya Rao (Amit Sadh), questions his superiors about Kulkarni being disallowed in the past from coming on their shows…because he is from the RSS. “And now,” as Aditya is shown stating in the film’s trailer too, “you want him to come…because he is from the RSS!”

AI-generated footage to show the past is another plus in the film. In this respect, this film does the kind of service for RSS that its predecessor earlier this year, Shatak, failed miserably to do: showing the true merits of the organization instead of merely going through its journey. Specific issues like its alleged involvement in Gandhi’s assassination and its supposed dubious role in the Emergency phase are dealt with skillfully, for example. The involvement of the Babri Masjid is also highlighted. The construction of the screenplay is done with passion and a singular bent towards precision.

Aakhri Sawal Movie Review: Star Performance

The film rests on the convincing performances of both Sanjay Dutt and Namashi Chakraborty. Dutt falters a bit in the pure Hindi and Sanskrit narrations, but that is true of the majority of real-life Indians today as well! Namashi is excellent as Vicky, the overzealous student who has a clear intention and goal. He succeeds in fleshing out his character throughout.

Amit Sadh, in the briefer role of Aditya Rao, delivers yet another rock-solid performance. Sameera Reddy is a clear disappointment as Dr. Pallavi, with her overdone facial expressions. She could have taken a leaf out of Pallavi Agnihotri’s book from The Kashmir Files or Raima Sen’s from The Vaccine War to be convincingly hateful to the viewer.

Tridha Choudhury as Saara and Neetu Chandra as Kavya have decorative roles, no more. Mrinal Kulkarni is effective in the brief role as the professor’s wife. Bipin Nadkarni as the college chief is alright, but Harsimran Oberoi as Ipshita and Rockey Raina as Sohraab are ho-hum.