Yeh Hai Bakrapur Movie Poster
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Two and Half stars)
Star cast: Anshuman Jha, Asif Basra, Amit Sial, Uttkarsh Majumdar, Faiz Mohammad, Suruchi Aulakh, Yaushika Verma, Shameem Khan
Director: Janaki Vishwanathan
What's Good: The film's satirical tone and ace concept makes it a well grounded plot right from the start.
What's Bad: The abruptness of the film will tick you off. The film had every ingredient to seem interesting and the inability to build on the good parts makes it quite a half baked watch.
Loo break: More than just a few.
Watch or Not?: Yeh Hai Bakrapur could have been quite an intelligent take on India's affiliation for blind faith. But the film somehow manages to kill its caliber with its shabbily done screenplay and reckless editing. The script lacks intuitiveness which was expected of it. Not entirely unwatchable but the film leaves by a sinking feeling which cannot be the residue of a confident product. It is a crucial story told without any keenness.
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The story of the film is set in a small, predominantly Muslim village where the Qureshi family owns a goat. The family wants to discard their pet but that isn't acceptable to the little boy who loves his pet. A way must be plotted to save him from going away.
The boy does get his way through but his pet goat suddenly becomes the talk of the town and beyond attaining a Superstardom overnight. With endorsements flocking his way, the goat becomes the subject of people's likings and even Hindu-Muslim politics.
How does this end is what is an interesting thing to look out for in this film.
Anshuman Jha and Asif Basra In a still from movie Yeh Hai Bakrapur'
Yeh Hai Bakrapur Review: Script Analysis
If you sniff closely, Yeh Hai Bakrapur has the essence of a politically inclined story. But what draws your attention to the film is its childlike innocence and how the writing invests in building a tender story revolving around Shahrukh, the goat. The animal, for no credit of his, evolves into a seraphic creature of sorts. Definitely the commentary is on how interrelated blind faith and illiteracy is, but the message comes out quite contrived. There is a clear lack of clarity in the film's writing which leads to a sloppy screenplay for it.
Though the end product isn't much to my satisfaction, I cannot help but bring up the tenderness in the tale. Yes, the main reason why the milieu of the film seems even remotely attractive is because of the child like glee in the wee moments of the film. The child's love for his goat arouses an array of really delicate emotions.
While it all begins well, the story's slow build up infuriates one, almost making one lose interest. The story doesn't really move much, beating around the bush over and over again. The characters become flat and doesn't evolve further over the course of the film and most importantly, the pivotal point of story stands defeated by the time the end credits flow down the big screen.
It is the lack of a nuanced story in a plot of this vein, is what I understood as the problem with the film's script. The way the script infuses the tragedy of poverty is near perfect but doesn't really build on the main theme too much. The ripples caused by the goat Shahrukh isn't exactly believable due to the shaky storytelling in those parts. The flow of the film ends up grinding your brains to pulp ending in nothing more than sheer futility.
Yeh Hai Bakrapur Review: Star Performances
Anshuman Jha does a stellar job and manages to emerge as a startling performer every time he is on screen. He is endearingly innocent and awfully sweet.
Suruchi Aulakh is another one hard to miss. She holds her ground with the character and plays it with perfection.
Asif Basra is great in his part too and adds well to the film.
Yeh Hai Bakrapur Review: Direction, Editing and Screenplay
Janaki Vishwanathan's work is potent but lacks finesse. There are a multiple sequences in the film that conveys mostly the story's inability to settle well with the audiences. The unhurried pace could have been used to establish something but it is eventually wasted away with a climax and an ending that clearly lacks soul.
Though there is authenticity in how she frames the rural background of the film and uses it as a character in her film, the loose second half with a sloppy storytelling and finally a blunt ending doesn't reflect well on the film.
Agnee's music is put to good use too but, the film doesn't turn out to perfection.
Yeh Hai Bakrapur Review: The Last Word
I did not leave the hall with a smile after Yeh Hai Bakrapur for the simple reason that I saw there was lot more potential entrapped in the story than what came out on screen. The frenzy for filmstars in our country left unexplored despite being hinted on repeatedly.
The flat climax and dissatisfaction after the ending left me dull. There was so much matter put to so little use. I am going with a 2.5/5.
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