Sanju

Disclaimer: I paid with my time and money to watch a movie, thus I have the right to make a public opinion on it, comprende? I don’t know who Sanjay Dutt is because I have never followed him in media. On another note, I clearly remember my parents following his court case in bafflement. My mom couldn’t understand it because to her he was a child born with a silver spoon in his mouth. My dad on the other hand said “He’s not a terrorist, but he’s one stupid young man.”

And here I am going to paraphrase my father a bit. He said that Sanjay Dutt was a young macho guy trying to look cool and tough. But he “unfortunately” chose a route that ended him in jail. The man had all the opportunities available to him because of nepotistic connections and attractive genes to be a bigger star than he is. There must have been some parental issues here. We know now, because of the film, that this is true to some extent, but just not how much, and most likely we will never know the extent of it.

Regardless, I want to be straightforward here and say that my review is primarily for the cast and team of the movie, and not about Sanjay Dutt. Controversies, and haters, take a back seat. Spoilers may exist in this article, so you better not complain later. Kindly see yourself out if that's not your thing.

Actors and Acting: Very very good.

Hat’s off to Paresh Rawal, and Vicky Kaushal. These two supporting characters as Sunil Dutt and Kamli were an outstanding addition to the overall emotional depth of the film. 1/1

I also really enjoyed the scenes with Manisha Koirala and Sonam Kapoor as well despite how early these two roles ended (unfortunately). 1/1

I wish Dia Mirza (especially), Jim Sarbh, and Anushka Sharma’s characters were given more substance seeing how they played a pivotal role in Sanju’s life. 0/1

Ranbir Kapoor gets his own grade because I go by the poster, and by the way of the poster he’s the main guy. He’s not sharing the spotlight with anyone but himself. And his job was phenomenal. To me he did not aesthetically look the character and yet he convinced me that he was Sanju through and through. No one could’ve done a better job than RK. The guy is a phenomenal actor. 1/1

3/4

Aesthetics: Kind of jarring but really good at the same time. Does that make any sense at all? Nonetheless, I enjoyed it so here’s a 1/1

Music: Music was good, some brave souls would say it was ok (as in, it could've been better). I do know that it’s not my genre, so I am biased here. But objectively I feel like there was not a single evergreen song. A song that is timeless essentially. For me that is Taal, Padres, Rangeela, Devdas, Rang De Basanti. Even Nayak nahi Khalnayak Hoon Mai or Ae Dekhe Zara are evergreen songs of Sanjay Dutt. But overall the songs did fit in the movie so 0.70/1

Dancing: Not a lot of dancing by Indian standards but whatever was there was meaningful somehow, at least I felt that way 1/1

Plot: 100 percent entertaining and ___ percent accurate. In other words, I really don’t know and we will never really know how much of the movie is reality and how much is fiction. The movie itself makes it obvious that some things are exaggerated, and not true. Fools are those who would take this movie as the gospel truth, or are offended by the lack of actual truth. I give to story for the story’s sake a full grade because it was a good emotionally heavy yet laughable story. I am not going to dwell on possible conspiracies or motives of this movie simply because it’s redundant. Conspiracies or influence can only work if you let people influence you into something. And hating it also you promoting it (plus looking like a bitter a**), it would be better to talk about the good parts and state how the story while enjoyable is quite fictitious. Watch the movie for entertainment’s sake and if that’s not your cup of tea, then the documentaries are waiting for you my friend (but you’d be naive to think that documentaries are 100 percent honest). 1/1

Positive: Loved the scenes with Sonam Kapoor, they were too good. 1/1

Negative: Winnie Diaz, I just couldn’t understand her. Why British and not Indian? Why did she have more importance than Manyata Dutt. Why call it a biopic while adding fictionalized characters into. I don’t mind fiction but don’t call it a biography then, nah. 0/0 (And no I’m not being a hypocrite, I don’t mind fiction, but then call it what it is. And even if movie makers fail to do so, I’m not someone who’ll be triggered by one bad aspect of the movie and just focus on that and forget the other good parts)

Total: 7.7/10

Conclusion: Overall a very good movie, however, not the best “biopic” as it was concentrated on just one subject of Sanjay Dutt’s life. I mean come on, there has to be more to the guy than his severe brush with the law. Some scenes that just didn’t add to the overall story (Karishma Tanna, if you know what I mean).

Note: Politely pointed out grammatical errors will be highly appreciated.