|Sadak 2 Review | Sadak 2 Movie Disney+ Hotstar Review|
BOTTOM LINE: Poorly Written Narrative With Zero Redeeming Factor
Rating: 1/5
SkinNSwear: No explicit scenes or use of expletives, though there’s tons of violence
Platform: Disney+ Hotstar | Genre: Action Drama |
What Is the Story About?
Sadak 2 is touted as the sequel to the 1991 blockbuster hit Sadak, but there’s hardly any connection with the original, save for Sanjay Dutt’s name – Ravi Kishore; profession – a taxi driver in the original, and a tours and travels business owner here; and his love interest, Pooja (Pooja Bhatt). But there’s a catch – Pooja never makes an appearance in Sadak 2. She’s dead, and Ravi has turned suicidal in his grief for her.
Try as he might, Ravi remains unsuccessful in every attempt at taking his own life. A few days later, a girl he sees at the mental hospital, where he is undergoing treatment for his suicidal tendencies, lands up at his home. The girl is Aarya Desai (Alia Bhatt), the only heir to the behemoth, Desai Industries. Apparently, before her death, Pooja had booked a tour for Aarya to Mount Kailash. Ravi reluctantly agrees to honour the booking, and they take to the road – the eponymous ‘Sadak’.
Aarya has a complicated back story. Her father (Jisshu Sengupta) is under the influence of a fake Godman, Satya Prakash (Makarand Deshpande). In connivance with her step mother, Nandini (Priyanka Bose), the gang wants to declare her mentally unstable and get hold of her wealth. They are also the ones behind getting her mother killed.
With help from her lover, Vishal (Aditya Roy Kapur), Aarya plans to expose the fake Godman, and avenge her mother’s killing. A couple of additional villains, Dileep Hathkata (Gulshan Grover) and his henchmen flit in and out of the narrative.
So then, how good or bad, watchable or not watchable is Sadak 2? Read on to find out!
Performances?
Despite the presence of the popular young brigade of Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur in the cast, the entire movie centres on Sanjay Dutt and his shenanigans. And Sanjay Dutt makes the most of the meaty role. The once-upon-a-time magnetic actor is a shadow of his former self —in more ways than one — and it is quite apparent in Sadak 2. But yes, the charisma remains.
Alia Bhatt is quite ordinary in the movie. There’s nothing to write home about anything of her in Sadak 2 — neither her acting, nor her delivery of dialogue is anything to sing hosannas about.
Aditya Roy Kapur is a mere appendage in the film. He’s been grossly wasted in an inconsequential role – heck, he doesn’t even get to fight the villains. We know who wears the pants in Sadak 2.
Jisshu Sengupta is passable in his role. He’s done one too many similar roles in the recent past. He needs to shake up his repertoire of characters, and do it fast, if he wants to stay relevant.
It is quite obvious that Makarand Deshpande’s Satya Prakash has been modelled to resemble the chilling Maharani of Sadak. The climax even has him dress in drag to invoke the unnerving transgender antagonist of Sadak. But that was Sadashiv Amrapurkar in an eternally memorable role. And this is a very caricaturish Makarand Deshpande, trying to pull off a Maharani — and failing abysmally at it.
Gulshan Grover makes a fleeting appearance in a teeny weeny role as gangster Dileep Hathkata – a one-handed villain, a la Captain Hook, and several others. His is also an eminently forgettable outing, just like all the other characters in the movie.
Analysis
Mahesh Bhatt takes the director’s chair after a gap of more than 20 years. His last films as director were in 1999 – Zakhm and Kartoos. Of course, he did direct a TV show Naamkarann in 2016, but that was a mere reprisal of his own, Zakhm. The auteur seems to have lost his touch in the intervening years. It’s hard to believe that Sadak 2 has been made by the man who’s directed seminal films such as Arth, Naam, Zakhm, Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke, and more of the same ilk.
Sadak 2 fails on all counts for us – the acting is mediocre; the writing, nondescript; and the storytelling, below average. The narrative is riddled with weird plot devices – Ravi converses with the dead Pooja, often enough to warrant psychiatrist care. The fake Godman bit is more tedious than unsettling. It does not provoke an iota of emotion, contemplation or thoughtful rumination. Instead, it bores us to death. Moreover, the subject has been done to death in recent flicks and shows. Only one – Oh My God – proved to be a worthwhile watch on the subject. The rest are all drivel, designed to stoke communal and religious passions, and drive chatter over them.
Coming to the characterisation — not a single character in Sadak 2 displays enough presence of mind or intelligence to outwit the antagonists. Each one is shown to be a gullible fool who inadvertently trusts the bad guys, or blurts secrets out unwittingly. Nor are the antagonists sharp enough to evade their gruesome ends. One of them reveals his true personality just after the interval, dashing hopes of a rousing suspense reveal in the climax.
The whole narrative has been constructed to showcase Sanjay Dutt’s barely diminished prowess at action sequences – the climax is his show alone, as are several other action set pieces.
The screenplay of Sadak 2, by Mahesh Bhatt and Suhrita Sengupta, is below average. Likewise, the direction. Sadak 2 is a poorly written film, with zero redeemable factors — a turkey for Disney Plus Hotstar.
Music and Other Departments?
The music of Sadak 2, by the quartet of Jeet Ganguli, Ankit Tiwari, Suniljeet, and duo Samidh-Urvi, is passable. None of the numbers has the potential to be earworms or be played on loop. The cinematography, by Jay Patel, is average. The production design, by Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray, is quite good, though not outstanding by any means.
Highlights?
Sanjay Dutt, if only for the sake of nostalgia; and also for not leaving this section blank. If we are absolutely honest, there are no highlights to Sadak 2 whatsoever.
Drawbacks?
Poor narrative
Mediocre acting
Ample loopholes
Weird plot devices
Forgettable direction
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Sadak 2 Review by Binged Bureau
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