The Sadak 2 trailer released on 12 August and almost immediately became the second most disliked trailer of all times. But haters you must stand down now. Whatever was the reason for all that internet trolling I just want to say all those up in arms against the film can just walk back on the sadak they came from because Sadak 2 doesn’t need them to declare it as bad. It can manage so on it’s own. Unimaginably bad.
1991, Mahesh Bhatt made Sadak, a love story between a taxi driver and an ingenue beauty Pooja Bhatt who gets forced into flesh trade. A terrific menacing Sadashiv Amrapurkar keeps the proceedings throbbing. The new Sadak is not a patch on the old one.
Sadak 2 has a grown-up, older, weary faced Sanjay Dutt who is still just as angry as his younger avatar. Director Mahesh Bhatt who with Sadak 2 in a way is making a comeback to direction probably thought that nostalgia would make the proceedings smooth here. Some frequent scenes from the original keep getting thrown in imploring us to not give up on the film immediately.
But it’s a challenge to sit through it .
The way mental illness and suicide has been made light of it’s almost nauseating and offensive. Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) has lost Pooja (Pooja Bhatt) a few months back and all he is left with is his tours and travel company that he started with her. The last customer booking that Pooja made knocks at his door. This is Alia’s cue to come in as Aarya, heiress to a rich business family. She wants to go to Kailash and slowly reveals her mission in life which is to expose fake godmen and dhongi babas. From distributing pamphlets asking people to not believe in andhvishwas she soon finds herself on a road trip with boyfriend Aditya Roy Kapoor to Kailash mansarivar to fulfil her own mothers dying wish.
But the problem is the writers soon forget what the original peg was and from taking on fake gurus we all get entangled in a crazy family and it’s many secrets. Jisshu Sengupta as Alia’s father, Priyanka Bose as her Nandini ma, Gulshan Grover as any 90’s Bollywood villain ever - all seem to be going through the motions but one feels bad for them for being stuck in this mess that spirals out of control never quite able to redeem itself.
At one point when Sanjay Dutt shoots at a man the character says “kya chahiye aapko, kyun ker rahe ho sab ? Main aapko Aur paise dunga“and he replies - “Pooja Tours and travels - service with security “ it’s difficult to keep a straight face then! Another time we have a character enter the room with Vermillion inexplicably splattered on her forehead that is supposed to have no bearing on the lines she is about to mouth. One is flabbergasted by how disorienting the narrative is.
Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt had real chemistry in the original. One couldn’t help but cheer for them. Here Alia and Aditya Roy Kapoor look like fellow travellers on a backpacking trip who are forced to sit together. Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s villainy is missed and Makarand Deshpande is just never given an opportunity To be anything other than a man with a terrible wig. There are many actors we feel bad for in the film but the most is for Sanjay Dutt, he tries so hard but this Sadak has just too many speed bumps and goes no where really. A dead end of a film. Half a quint.
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