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Cast: Arshad Warsi, Jitendra Kumar, Ayesha Kaduskar, Tara-Alisha Berry
Director: Akshay Shere
Streaming On: Zee 5
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes
Maine 10th ke Annual Day mein ek baar jeans pehni thi school mein. Lekin papa ne bahut daanta tha. Uske baad se kabhi jeans nahi pehni, tells a shy and so much in love Meera to her boyfriend Sameer. A boy, she literally met on the streets, and a boy who made her believe in love at first sight. They met, they flirted, and they fell in love. But what happened next forms the entire premise of Bhagwat: Chapter 1, Rakshas.
Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas Review: What’s It About:
The premise of the film has already been set in the teaser and trailer itself. Jitendra Kumar plays a psychopath who is responsible for the disappearance of a lot of young women. Enter Arshad Warsi, a senior police officer dealing with anger management, who tries to find Meera, a missing girl, who is expected to have fled with a Muslim boy, making the entire town divide on the basis of their religion, and politicians making good use of the confusion!
The most heartbreaking element of Bhagwat Chapter 1 Rakshas is that this story is based on facts and real incidents! As soon as you know it, you cannot see it like any other regular, gritty, small-town crime thriller, pitting Arshad Warsi’s intense cop against the anti-casting of Jitendra Kumar. The film is based on true events leading to the disappearance of 19 young women in North India. The story sets its tone in the first 10 minutes itself.
Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas Review: What Works:
Jitendra Kumar’s casting as the antagonist is the biggest asset for the film. However, looking at him play the psychopath will definitely lead you to Vikrant Massey, playing the same psychopath in Sector 36. Both of them have similar motives to kill young girls. Director Akshay Shere successfully establishes a tense, authentic atmosphere; however, when it comes to building a story that could have created a little bit of pathos, the film surrenders, right before that moment! You do not feel for the victims! Just like the serial killer and his family did not feel for them!
In one of the scenes, Arshad Warsi’s senior officer sternly tells him, “Do not make this about the revenge of those women!” You do not feel disgusted by this thought, no rage, nothing! And that is where the film turns into the wrong lane while it was pondering in the streets of Vikrant Massey’s Sector 36 and was about to knock on the right door!
Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas Review: Star Performance:
Jitendra Kumar breaks his image brilliantly as the cold-blooded, educated predator. He is a sophisticated antagonist and his ability to switch between charming and chilling is deeply unsettling and impacts loudly. Arshad Warsi is a man who owns the screen. He is fantastic as the realistic, middle-aged cop – in moments, he is quiet yet angry, trying to make sense of the psychopath he has nabbed. However, weak writing does not let his character rule this story!
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Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas Review: What Doesn’t Work:
For the first 90 minutes the film is an engaging, fast-paced and intense crime drama but it loses its focus in the second half, when Jitendra Kumar starts fighting his case on his own and defend himself. The initial mystery of the missing girls and the horrifying realization of the scale of the crime tries to create tension but it does not translate into an empathetic story!
Bhagwat Chapter One: Raakshas Review: Last Words:
The final quarter of Bhagwat Chapter 1 Rakshas, which turns into a predictable courtroom drama, feels stretched and conventional, significantly dropping the gripping pace set earlier.
I would have loved to explore this psychopathic serial killer more. The title also hinted at a little deep diving, but except for one dialogue where Arshad Warsi calls him a Rakshas and he defends and glorifies himself as a Baaz, nothing is worth calling it a psychological thriller, which this should have been!
2 stars.
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