HALLA BOL

Actors: Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan, Pankaj Kapur, Kareena Kapoor, Ruby Bhatia, Mukesh Tiwari, Lekh Tandon and Darshan Jariwala.
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Producer: Subhash Ghai, Elahe Hiptoola, Rahul Puri
Writer: Nagesh Kukunoor
Lyrics: Dushyant Kumar, Mehboob, Sameer

“Halla Bol” is a clone of Rajkumar Santoshi’s earlier film “Damini” and reminiscent of the much publicized Jessica Lal murder case. Much like “Damini”, this movie too communicates a social message but this is where the similarity ends. “Damini” was miles ahead of its times. Excellent star performances, tight script and outstanding courtroom scenes made the movie a true masterpiece.

The script of “Halla Bol” is very old. The movie traces the rise, fall and rise again of its protagonist, Ashfaque. Ashfaque (Ajay Devgan) is a small town boy who dreams of making it big in Bollywood. He joins a street theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur) who uses street theatre as a platform for social awakening. Ashfaque struggles to give creative vent to the actor in him and his determined struggle pays off when he gets the much-desired break in movies. He gets a new screen name- Sameer Khan.

With the passage of time, he gets bigger and better roles and moves up the ladder of success in a short span of time. Soon he becomes Sameer Khan, the superstar who can enact any role to perfection and win audience applause. Amidst all the adulation and appreciation, he slowly forgets his own identity, loses his real self and becomes a masked character displaying attributes of various screen roles enacted by him. Corruption overpowers his entire system as he gets alienated from all loved ones including his wife Sneha (Vidya Balan). An incident at a party changes everything shaking the entire life of Sameer Khan. He gets entrapped between his human self on one hand and the corrupted superstar image on the other. Good sense prevails, as he is able to get rid of his corrupted image and emerges as a true-life hero.

Although Ajay Devgan displays remarkable acting prowess in his scenes, it is a pity to watch such a great actor get saddled in roles like these. Pankaj Kapur as a reformed dacoit is absolutely brilliant. Vidya Balan sadly enough has hardly any scenes where she can bring out the honed actress in her. Rajkumar Santoshi seems to have lost his Midas touch. Music is okay but nothing worth remembering. Deprived of quality script, direction and music, “Halla Bol” fails to make any significant impression on the box office.