PremiumAkelli review: Nushrratt Bharuccha’s ‘solo’ warrior act seems to be the only saving grace in the other average film that stumbles with loose screenplay
Fight against terrorism seems to be the favourite catchword these days in Bolllywood
Last Updated: 10.17 AM, Aug 23, 2023
Story:
A middle-class simple lady Jyoti Arora (Nushrratt Bharuccha) lands up in Mosul (Iraq) in search of a good paying job. Little does she know that her job will eventually land her up in dire situations, which she has to deal with it ‘solo’. Hence the title, ‘Akelli’.
Review:
The film starts off with a woman named Jyoti Arora (Nushrratt Bharuccha) being pushed into a dungeon alongwith many other women. The year is 2014. This is followed by a flashback of events that leads the story to the present-day situation. The story, then, traces Jyoti Arora’s past, that shows her shouldering the responsibility of her mother and her niece, all by herself as her sister and brother-in-law have lost their lives in Kedarnath and their bodies are not to be found. And because of this, even the insurance company refuses to hand over the money to her. Left with no other alternative, Jyoti decides to try her luck abroad with the hope of getting good money.
That’s when she gets a job in Mosul (Iraq) with a monthly payment of Rs. 80,000. Even though she raises her concern about Iraq being a war zone, the recruiter says that, her place of work (Noor Bano Garments Ltd.) is totally safe. Hearing this, Jyoti lies to her mother that she has got a job in Muscat and leaves for Iraq. It is here, she comes across her manager Rafique (Nishant Dahiya), who, eventually, becomes her go-to man for everything. The very first day, when Jyoti enters Iraq, she witnesses a child tied to a time bomb that explodes in front of everyone.
Eventually, with the able help of Rafique, Jyoti takes the garment factory like fish to water. But, one day, the terrorists attack the garment factory as well. And at the behest of the ‘lollypop-eating’ Commander Wahid Ibrahim, they spare a few people, while they shoot dead many men in the desert, and captivate the ladies as prisoners in a dungeon. It is here, where Jyoti Arora ‘accidentally’ kills Commander Wahid Ibrahim. Seeing her ‘bravery’, the main commander decides to reward her bravery by making her his wife… fourth wife to be precise.
What happens to Jyoti and her life after that and in what ways and means that she adopts to manage to escape the evil men to return back to India is what forms the rest of the story.
These days, it seems that the filmmakers are obsessed with the genre of a solo woman’s fight against terrorism. A few months back, it was Adah Sharma whose stellar performance in ‘The Kerala Story’ set the box office on fire. Gone are the days when the filmmakers used to make documentaries of such genres. These days, such ‘genre’ gets a silver screen presentation!
While the first half of ‘Akelli’ establishes the film’s plot and all its characters, the real drama unfolds in the second half. Eventually, one does realise in the second half that, in the name of ‘cinematic liberty’ the film’s makers have gone extremely overboard that eventually challenges and defies logic by all means.
In films like ‘The Kerala Story’ and ‘Akelli’, where script is the sole king, it becomes mandatory for the dialogues to be extremely strong enough to be able to enjoy its place under the sun. Even if the dialogues are not that powerful, at least, the film needs to have strong one liners or punches in order to add the required impact to the screenplay. Sadly, that is just not the case in ‘Akelli’. Dialogues by Ayush Tiwari and Aseem Ahmed Abbasee lack that much-required punch in them.
As for the performances, it’s an out and out Nushrratt Bharuccha’s show all the way. Even though her incessant attempts to rise about her character in the film is very much visible in the film, the sad part is that, the film’s screenplay fails her big time. Despite all the handicaps in ‘Akelli’, this lady does put up a fine act… if not a career-defining or her career-best film! Nushrratt Bharuccha, who was seen in films like ‘Janhit Mein Jaari’, ‘Ram Setu’, ‘Selfiee’, seems to be not afraid of taking risks at the present stage of her career. Having said that, she really needs to work a bit on her emotional scenes. But, overall, a praiseworthy performance. Following her a close second is the model-turned actor Nishant Dahiya, who plays his part extremely well. Right from his body language to dialogue delivery, this man wins you over with his portrayal of Rafique. Rest of the actors do their bit to carry the film forward.
After having worked as an Associate Director on films such as ‘Queen’ and ‘Commando 3’, Pranav Meshram makes his debut as a director with ‘Akelli’. Even though the film is not that bad for a debutante, the fact also remains that, the film could definitely have been much better, had he concentrated to tighten the film’s second half, which goes astray at many places. The director fails to explain the logic behind a terrorising villain eternally with a lollipop in his mouth. It does no good to him, but makes him look like a caricature villain.
Besides this, scenes where a solo man managing to switch off the lights of the entire airport at one go, Nushrratt Bharuccha’s character changing her name at the airport and her underwater act, the sudden entry (read ‘forced entry’) of the ISIS angle and other such scenes towards the climax, are the places which ‘manages to defy’ logic by all means.
The film’s music by the trio of Hitesh Sonik, Gurshabad and Mehul Vyas is nothing to write about. Both the music as well as the lyrics does not leave an impact on the mind of the audience. On the other hand, the film’s background music (Rohit Kulkarni) definitely elevates the film and its premises by notches.
While the film’s cinematography (Pushkar Singh) is just above average, the film’s editing could definitely have been more watertight. The VFX used in the film looks like there was definitely more room for improvement.
Verdict:
Overall, ‘Akelli’ can be termed as a one-time watch if you are a lover of genres dealing with terrorism and escapism. And yes, if you are a die-hard fan of Nushrratt Bharuccha.