Written by: Rajiv Vijayakar
2 min readMumbaiNov 5, 2010 07:08 PM IST
First published on: Nov 5, 2010 at 07:08 PM IST
This film on the saint of Shirdi takes the anecdotal course. Two devotees Smriti Irani and Divya Dutta recall and narrate stories about the saint that cover his arrival in Shirdi,the gradual rise in his followers,his miraculous powers and other aspects of the faqir,whose origins and even religion remain unknown to man.
This structure tends to weaken the grip. The film addresses most issues Sai Baba propounded – communal harmony,self-introspection,compassion towards the poor and the sick and how faith in the Almighty and patience can cause miracles.
However,while the presentation is a decent blend of the dramatic and the real,the highly erratic script skirts necessary elaborations and rambles at other times. The reason why Kulkarni Shakti Kapoor remains a stubborn opponent of Baba is not even detailed and his comparison to Raavan is not convincing.
In the second half,the incoherent lavani episode and the farmer suicide angle seem both forced and filmi.
The music sounds nice when the songs are on,but there is no recall value. The technical side is competent but the acting a mixed bag as professional and proven talents like Ramesh Bhatkar,Vikram Gokhale and Parikshat Sahni blend with raw amateurs. But Jackie Shroff shines in his peformance and makes Sai Baba very real,though there are some sequences where he is more Shroff than Sai!
RATING:
One star for Jackie Shroff and one for narrating some fresh,not so well-known stories of Sai Baba.
rajiv.vijayakarexpressindia.com
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