QDekhein: Sonakshi Kicks Some Serious Butt in Akira

Akirastarts with a Sufi quote and ends with the image of Crucifixion. It has afemale action hero and carries the message of self-reliance for women. Butthrough all this symbolism Director AR Murugadoss seems acutely self-consciousof his posturing and it is this that robs the films of its verisimilitude.

Gone are Sonakshi Sinha’s “damsel in distress” and item number days. In Akira, Sonakshi plays a female Singham, a crusader against all things evil.

Circumstances have conspired to make Akira a hard nut to crack. Trained in self defense and with an invincible spirit, she often is compelled to unleash her prowess and go on a bone breaking spree. She soon gets embroiled in a quagmire and it becomes a battle between her and an evil cop raking up a messy labyrinth of criminal activities. Anurag Kashyap flexes his acting muscles and the sinister vibe that he harbors along with his carefully crafted menacing demeanour make his performance riveting.

Akira is loosely based on the 2011 Tamil film Mouna Guru and makes an attempt at a plot. But the contrived twists and logic defying screenplay make the story telling obvious and uninspired.

Take for instance, Konkona Sen Sharma’scharacter. A heavily pregnant, honest police officer who tries to unearth thetruth about Akira’s innocence and carries out her own parallel investigation -we know nothing about her, precious little about the motivations of hercharacter, but her meek surrender to authority seems to strike a jarring note toher otherwise upright conscience.

Inspiteof the gaping holes in the narrative, Akira has an engaging first half poisednicely at the interval. Sonakshi Sinha must be praised for carrying out theaction sequences with aplomb. But the over-indulgent pace and the ominouslydepressing tone of the film might not have many takers.

Go for it with minimalexpectations. Sonakshi and Anurag Kashyap pack a powerful punch, but the script failsto impress. I would go with a generous 3 QUINTS out of 5.