Movie: Akira
Direction: AR Murugadoss
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Konkona Sen Sharma, Anurag Kashyap
Music: John Stewart Eduri
Cinematographer: R D Rajasekhar
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Rating: ∗∗∗½
What is it about: This film is an official remake of 2011 Tamil film “Mouna Guru” by Santha Kumar. The film is about Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) who stands up against the wrong doings right from the small age. And when she moves to Mumbai to pursue higher studies, she gets tangled in to a messy modus operandi spun by a corrupt police officer played by Anurag Kashyap. What happens next forms the crux of the story directed by AR Murugadoss.
Why it’s disappointing: One may start pondering on the potholes and few illogical rendering in the plot. But this commercial pot boiler requires them to be ignored sit back and enjoy.
What to watch out for: Remakes are a tricky ones and mostly fail. And this one comes out a winner. The film has a simple and straight forward approach which any masala flick will follow. And ARM did a great job in keeping the essence intact without adulterating it.
Akira has a strong cast which makes a commendable case on keeping you engaged throughout the time period. Let’s start with the lead Sonakshi Sinha, everyone was sceptical on how she will pull off this role and so was I. Mainly due to the previous films she has done. Trust me she’ll prove you wrong hands down kicking some serious ###. She has the perfect body language for an action flick and performed it with great diligence. She fills the silver screen with her dynamism. There are few instances in the film, in which she spells “MASS-JHAKAAS” in bold letters. Action was fantastic and she fought like a tigress. There were no slow motion captures, all of them were fast with no nonsense. Sonakshi Sinha have set a great bar for future in terms of action genre involving heroines.
Then my personal favourite Anurag Kashyap, my god he’s a got a deep voice which runs strong on the screen. And a screen presence well derived for a role of that calibre. He brings a great charm to the cunning, and makes it look fantastic. As great a director he’s, so an actor. Perfect rendition of evil.
Konkana Sen does a good one for the screen space provided. And that’s followed by Amit Sadh, Teena Singh, Urmila Mahanta and Lokesh Vijay Gupte.
The cinematography by RD Rajasekhar was splendid and racy, which was perfectly cut by Sreekar Prasad. The music by Vishal-Shekar was good and songs were not forced in, and the background score by John Stewart Eduri was gripping.
The high point of the film was action and action director “ANL” Arasu was great with it. He made Sonakshi sway in a different way, and have broken the stereotype. The action sequences were meticulously choreographed and paced well without irritating slo-mo scenes.
Verdict: AR Murugadoss did really a fine job in this remake and gave a whole other look with a female lead. And that factor is impressive, which was performed well by Sonakshi, who didn’t give any room for complaint. A commercial pot boiler which keeps you engaged for its runtime with great action and drama. Definitely worth a watch, and do watch it in theatres.
