This new film 'Gajab Raat' starring Manoj Bajpayee is a thriller. That's something usual in this era of Netflix and other such platforms.
The film is a piece of entertainment no doubt but a sort of unusual clash between his conscience and greed is the project's unique selling point.
Past midnight, as the movie ends - one thought greets the mind - it should have done better.
Sub-inspector Ajay Nirvit (Manoj Bajpayee) is a corrupt, bribe-loving Delhi cop. His immediate senior colleague (Rajiv Gupta) too like him dreams of a posh bungalow with a swimming pool and both taking a dip into it.
During a routine night of patrols, an unidentified, severely injured young woman is thrown from a moving vehicle in Delhi's Connaught Place. It takes time to discover that the injured protagonist is a journalist.
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What starts as a simple case drags Ajay into a murky, high-level conspiracy involving a powerful woman politician and the international web of crime -- where vaccine import is the source of crores exchanging hands and offshore deposits worked out during the minister's visit to Poland.
The scribe collects 'evidence' of the scam and a list of Netas and 320 others including bureaucrats and NGOs being part of the scandal.
Produced by Neeraj Pandey’s Friday Film Works and directed by Ritesh Shah, the film unfolds over a single night, as one decision sets off a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.
For Neeraj Pandey, 'Gajab Raat' continues his creative association with Netflix, following the Khakee series, 'Sikandar Ka Muqaddar', and Taskaree.
The film also marks his reunion with Manoj Bajpayee after nearly a decade, bringing the two together.
Several important people want to get to the severely injured scribe - not to save her. Most want her eliminated.
Social worker Neha (Shraddha Das), the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Madhok (Akshay Oberoi) and the National Investigation Agency’s Karan (Saqib Saleem). In the hospital - where she is being treated - all these characters with occasional instructions from the Minister (Divya Dutt) face a 'wall' created by Ajay. But he too is vulnerable to greed and all that he does is not with altruistic (or unselfish) motives.
But Manoj Bajpayee holds together the film otherwise with a lot of weakness in writings. A better script could have made a better movie certainly. Cop Ajay is corrupt and hence his 'moral transformation' is out of the blue in the film.
Something else this film is not : it does not offer a closer examination of the system that has a corrupt nexus of cops, ministers, CBI and NIA officials.
Dialogues like - "Do char crore aur le lena. kahatam karo ladki ko" - from the minister do not sound convincing even for a Bollywood product.
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| Talented Divya Dutt is not really explored adequately as a Neta |
At one point - cop Ajay pleas the minister and seeks "doosra raasta" .. other than to kill her. She shots back : "Doosra rasta ki baat kar rahe ho, kyon ki tum sadak pe hi ho (You are talking about an alternative road, because you are still on roads. I have come up much higher up the ladder and this ant like scribe woman wants to destroy me".
The big picture message of the film is an 'enthusiastic tribute' to hundreds of honest people amid a much larger crowd of greedy and corrupt top guns. Ajay says it is this smaller club of 'honest people' who has kept the balance in the society and the country.
He tells the minister - something obvious but in a metaphorical style - "If these honest people vanish, how will we corrupt people survive (Hum dhanda kaise karenge)".
Finally, as a working journalist and these days a struggling freelancer -- one can relate to the journalism-reality world better -- where the editor Sarkar (a Bong surname) is portrayed as someone who betrays the young reporter.
The character of cop Ajay often finds himself in a predicament, which is definitely an indicator of an entertaining drama. Of curse, this is a genre in which the actor has excelled in the past. But here - even Manoj Bajpyee appears under-utilised.
Missing gaps are too many. A below average script, there is no sentimental connect - which normally go down well with the audience and comedy attempts too is half-hearted.
Nevertheless, the film is worth viewing once. Manoj Bajpayee fans would not mind a second dosage of viewing.
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