Saaho Movie Review : It Just Needed To Relax

I don’t know  if I heard  correctly—too much noise  both  on screen and  in  theatre, plus Hindi dialogues are terribly  done—but Prabhas tells his ladylove , ‘You are too pretty to be a cop.’

From quite early, political correctness and gender equality are not  looming concerns in this  punishingly prolonged paean  to machismo .

The action is  good, sometimes outstanding,   but where ‘s  the story? Where is  the script? Saahosuffers from an undernourished  plot.  In physical  terms, it is all beef and brawn and  but no substance,no balance and certainly no restraint. Prabhas acts and acts, and then  he acts some  more, just for good measure. There are no  reflective  pauses  in his performance. He, and the film, are  afraid to let go of  even a minute of  the 3-hour playing time to celebrate the  joys of rumination and contemplation.Can’t risk the loo exodus.

Saaho is  all action, no reaction. The  hijinks are relentless and after a point, unendurable. It’s like being at a rave  party where the noise assails you. You wish the music would stop long enough to let you breathe in peace. For  just a while, please? You wish  the  actors(who act and act and act) would speak normally instead of  bombarding us with what sounds like wisdom culled from  the back of cereal cartons.

The villains, there are so many of them, I lost count. But  I must credit  the  film for  representing evil from every generation of  its perpetrators. From a  wizened  and still wacky Tinu Anand, , to  Chunky Pandey who  grimaces  like he just saw his star-daughter’s latest  interview,to  Neil NitinMukesh who thinks flared nostrils are  an indication  of  vileness, and then Mandira Bedi  so slinky  and  seductive  in a film that  favours flab.

 They  all ham,  oh yes! That’s the  need  of the hour. Three  hours. That’s  the  brief for the  swag party. Prabhas tries to do everything from comedy to dancing to….errrr….acting. But—how do I put this politely?—if you want to see  a better Prabhas, buy  yourself  entry into a screening of  Baahubali .Here in Saaho(won’t reveal why  the  film has that strange Bhojpuri-sounding title) when Prabhas summons menace,  the Dennis within him shows up.

For an out-and-out vehicle  for heavyduty ‘heroticism’  Shradha Kapoor  seems  to have  a lot to do.She fusses about her business of being an  important agent  of change , like assistants on film sets who basically make no difference  to the proceedings. Damn, Ms Kapoor even kicks some ass, though  I  am not sure the ass is really worth kicking.It’s  like kicking  the pricks.Futile and damaging.

Ah, yes the  clock is ticking. So on to the mainstay and hub  of  the  film. The action scenes. Are they as  riveting as promised? Well, yes and no. The stunts and the  endless chases sequences have a high level of adrenaline  flowing in their veins.And they show  a level of  competence hardly seen in Indian cinema. But Prabhas  doesn’t move fast enough. It’s like he has the burden  of  living up the Baahubali frenzy weighing on his shoulders.

 I wish he would just relax. Breathe easy. Let  the  mojo float .But no.There is  the  next fight and chase.And  the one after that. It’s like a  schoolboy who wants to show all his tricks to his parent’s guests. After  a point  you just want it to stop.Saaho leaves  you exhausted.And craving for some peace and  quiet.