Rashtraputra - The Commander Of Surgical Strikes

STORY: Abandoned by parents at birth, Aazaad (Aazaad) swears by the principles of freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad. He pledges to demolish the kingdom of international drug cartels in India and their kingpins.

REVIEW: Left at the foothold of Chandrashekar Azad’s statue in Allahabad, an abandoned child named Azaad does not subscribe to the concept of organised religion and goes on to become a staunch supporter of freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad’s ideologies. When tragedy befalls, he pledges to wipe out all the drug lords off the streets of India, especially his arch rivals Satbir (Zakir Hussain) and Nepali (Manish Chaudhary).

To imbibe the qualities of a national hero is no crime, but to pick up a subject as grave and alarming as drug abuse and not be able to render what the title promises, sure is. Written, directed and acted in by Aazaad, the film has noble intentions as it brushes upon the glaring issue of the youth being consumed by drugs. It also highlights the conflict over territorial power amongst drug cartels.

But the film, which is very lengthy and predictable right from frame one, struggles to bring to light the reality of drug abusers. It tries to show the path that leads young people to drug abuse and situations that push them over. ‘Rashtraputra’ is just one man going gaga over what he believes in and his friends and foes reiterating what has already been established by the narcissistic dialogues. Aazaad tries very hard to be a new-age national hero in disguise.

The actor-director needs to hone his acting, writing and direction skills. Although veterans like Zakir Hussain and Manish Chaudhary have acted well, there isn’t much for them to explore or even improvise. Ruhi Singh looks pretty but the role limits her to more prop status in the film. Unfortunately, the story of ‘Rashtraputra’ plays out with the single aim of one man, who is full of himself.

The only take away is, good intentions don’t translate into good movies.