Sanju movie review: Ranbir Kapoor is the soul of this Sanjay Dutt biopic

Sanjay Dutt’s life, embattled and controversial, is unlike anything we have seen in a Rajkumar Hirani film before. Sanju, therefore, was not expected to be your usual Hirani film, full of colour and life. It was a dark subject, with various shades of grey, and that is how Hirani and Sanju’s Sanjay Dutt, Ranbir Kapoor, deal with it. Instead of smoothening the edges of a life lived dangerously, they bring a light touch to the treatment. While that has its perks, it also keeps the film from going deep into Sanjay Dutt’s life.

Sanju begins with a disclaimer that it’s not an image cleaning exercise for Sanjay Dutt. To emphasise his point, Hirani brings in the plot of a biographer, played initially by Piyush Mishra and then the mantle is taken up by another unbiased writer Vinnie Roy, played by Anushka Sharma.

Despite the disclaimer, the film is not a hard look at Dutt’s controversial past and his tryst with the underworld. Only a fleeting reference of a local gangster has been made, that too with a lot of caution.Ranbir seems the perfect choice for playing Dutt as he has imbibed the soul of the senior actor. He is absolutely on point in this really long ode to one of Bollywood’s most talked about members.

Hirani mostly focuses on the events of Dutt’s life, beginning with his well chronicled struggle with drugs. The director’s usual humorous style is evident from the first scene, and Ranbir Kapoor is probably his only tool to infuse intensity into Sanju.

Dutt’s life is an open book. He has been among the favourites of journalists for long. His character and traits became a talking point in the media even before the release of his first film Rocky in 1981. The success of the film made him the darling of millions, but there was a catch. He was under intense public scrutiny -- his every move was watched, his style was copied by his die-hard fans. He was only 22 then.

Some say he couldn’t handle the success, some say the untimely death of his mother, Nargis, just three months before the release of his debut Rocky, devastated him. Whatever be the reason, he was one star who always fascinated the audiences. Hirani keeps Dutt’s public image in mind while bringing forth the real man that the actor is.

As director, Hirani, faced an uphill task in bringing back all those memories in their truest form in Sanju. Hirani does it the way Hirani can, by bringing in the humour and heart in almost every sequence, even the serious ones.Hirani’s Sanjay Dutt, played by Ranbir Kapoor, is an ordinary person who feels and behaves like any of us. He doesn’t behave like a Bollywood star and seems really low on confidence in his youth. The charisma of Ranbir Kapoor is at work here as he imitates Dutt’s body language and mannerism with perfection. He is the soul of Sanju.

There are many characters and Hirani has roped in some very known faces for even smaller roles, and that adds a lot of value to the film. The only thing which seems out of place is his interpretation of the dark chapters of Dutt’s life. However, that doesn’t hamper the fluidity of the screenplay much.

movie review : 3/5