Haathi Mere Saathi: Elephants Are Saved. What About Us?

Haathi Mere Saathi(Eros Now)

Rating: *

Haathi Mere Saathi Movie Review: First things first. This Haathi Mere Saathi has  nothing to do with Rajesh  Khanna’s  1971  blockbuster  of   the same  title. This one  has  lots of elephants in it  but fails to address the elephant  in the room: why  has this film been made? If I was  the producer I would  quickly  throw the footage  into the sea and pretend  it never happened.

Haathi Mere Saathi has  Rana Daggubatti running around with a wild  look in his eyes as if he’s just seen the Chinese  releasing the Covid virus . He plays some kind  of an  animal conservationist  battling to save elephants   from evil  capitalists. Anand Mahadevan is  the greedy entrepreneur  who  builds  a big wall  blocking the elephants from the jungle. Someone  should block the elephants  from  queuing up too see this film. They would feel insult is being added  to injury.

And poor  Sheeba Chadha! That extraordinary actress  is reduced  to  a prop  in a  film that is not really a film. It’s torture  chamber  , sure to but conservationists  off conservation for a lifetime. There is a whole  lot  of  noise and screechy  sermons on how  human plunderers are  destroying the elephants’  natural  habitat.

 But  the  tone is way too shrill to convey the message . Messages   work only when conveyed  in a reasonable tone. Haathi Mere Saathi is  the sledgehammer of  conservationism. The CGs are extremely.Poor  Daggubatti monopolizes  the  footage . The voice that’s dubbed for him in Hindi doesn’t suit him. Ditto Zoya Hassan  running around  the jungle trying to save the elephants  and  trying to save  poor  Pulkit Samrat who looks  lost in the jungle.Anyone would,  after running  from dawn to tusk.

But who will save  the  audience   from this hysterical tripe  about the plundering tribe? This film  should be referred  to the SPCA. The Society  for  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to the Audience.