Sanju Trailer Review: Ranbir’s Sanju Act Is Short Of Breath!

Everything seems to be a joke in the eagerly-awaited trailer of Raj Kumar Hirani’s Sanju. A cruel joke, told in the form of a psychedelic fable replete with visuals of apun Sanju Baba,a.k.a, Ranbir Kapoor, high on drugs, so high that he can’t tell the difference between a laughter and a cry…Or a mangalsutra and a toilet seat.

In sequence meant to be deafeningly shrill in its hysterical repudiation of a traumatic marriage, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja shrieks for her missing mangalsutra ,and her high-as-a-kite husband drapes her neck with a toilet seat.

Check out trailer here: http://www.hotstar.com/sanju-trailer/1000213191

Toilets occur twice in the longish trailer. The second time we see Sanju in a dingy prison cell panicking as the inbuilt toilet vomits yellow liquid excreta in nauseating bubbles.

Realism during the times surrealism…Wah, Hirani Saab. Filmmaking toh koi aapse sikhe. But no.I am not convinced .I am not convinced about Ranbir Kapoor’s performance. It seems dangerously close to mimicking Sanjay Dutt(which by the way the stand-up comedian Sanket Bhonsale does very well).

The atmosphere created is light fluffy woozy and jokey even in the scenes of horrific torture where Ranbir’s Sanju cracks up after one resounding slap from a cop interrogating him for his alleged terror activity. It is again an unintentionally funny moment because the real Sanjay Dutt must have cracked up so many times under duress without looking like he has just been caught eating an extra gulab jamun for dessert.

Dutt’s saga is a chronicle of self-abuse and voluntary destruction. Neither of these aspects is highlighted or even mentioned in the trailer. Barring the small glimpse of Manisha Koirala as Sanjay Dutt’s legendary mother Nargis every actor seems to be in this for the fun of it.Vicky Kaushal , so majestically restrained in Raazi is specially annoying as Sanju Dutt’s sidekick smirking about “say-ex”.

And Paresh Rawal as Sunil Dutt behaves as if his son is an angel targeted by all the devils in the world. This is completely wrong.I remember how beleaguered and troubled Dutt Saab was by his son’s antics.Speaking to me Dutt Saab called his son a bidga beta spoilt by his mother. In the trailer it seems the screen-Dutt blames the world for his son’s troubles.

I presume this is Hirani’s idea of rustic charm. Everything in the trailer seems to be done for effect. Journalist Anushka Sharma(with a pert specially-cropped haircut to look the part) asks Dutt how many women he has slept with besides his girlfriends .

(Which journalist asks such questions in Mumbai?).

“Does that include prostitutes? 308…no make that 350 just to be on the safe side,” Ranbir’s Dutt deadpans.

(An actual survey of sexual exploits of the reel and real Dutt could prove a neck-to-neck race).

The overweening cuteness of an incorrigible hedonist is unbearable to digest.

The only moment that actually had me laughing was when “director” Mahesh Manjrekar calls Sanju Dutt saying the shot is ready. Sanju pretends to be stuck in the traffic.

“But I’ve called you on the landline,” protests Manjrekar with a laugh.

That’s it. Everyone each time from mom Nargis to friend Manjrekar laughed off Baba’s wrongdoings.

Judging by the trailer it seems we’re supposed to do the same.