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All reviews from international critics have been VERY encouraging!
‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’
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By John Anderson, Special to The Times
Maybe it’s the trains. Maybe it’s the camels. Maybe it’s the intermission. No matter: Something about “Eklavya: The Royal Guard” suggests a lost film by David Lean. With some muted echoes of “Hamlet.” And a whiff of “Rigoletto.”
Like so many Indian movies that make their way to Los Angeles, “Eklavya” — based on the low-caste warrior hero of “The Mahabharata” — is a movie masala. Unlike so many, thisstirring dramatic feature by Kashmiri director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, his first in seven years, marries its varied elements — in this case modernity and classicism, current-day India and its feudal past, contemporary corruption and blood tradition — in a coherent and propulsive fashion. There may be songs, but they are not sung by kohl-eyed virgins in rainstorms; there may be excess, but “camp” is thelast thing one would call “Eklavya.”
Something is rotten in Devigarh, an ancient Shangri-La of royal pretense, where the aging but still lethal Eklavya (Bollywood vet Amitabh Bachchan) protects the all-but-powerless king (Boman Irani). When the queen (Sharmila Tagore) calls out on her deathbed for Eklavya, the jealous sovereign strangles her, unleashing a tempest that will bring the brooding prince, Harshwardhan (Saif Ali Khan), home from London, and a whole world tumbling down.
Chopra and co-writer Abhijit Joshi’s portrayal of characters according to sex or caste is a bit dubious. Harsh’s Ophelia-like twin, Nandini (Raima Sen), is more silly than disturbed; Rajjo (Vidya Balan) is Harsh’s Sabrina (she’s even the chauffeur’s daughter). And the “untouchable” policeman, Pannalal (Sanjay Dutt), is simply a goofball.
Harsh himself might have seemed the more obvious choice of protagonist in this melodrama of honor and revenge, but it is Eklavya who provides the far more potent and complex hero. He is faced with an insurmountable dilemma: Whether to honor the code of the royal guard or spare the life of his son.
Chopra and his cinematographer, Nataraja Subramanian, create startling images that are used for seduction or, just as often, alarm: The shift in energy and rhythms and the velocity of the action keep the viewer off balance yet always in the flow of the story.
There are dry spots, but Chopra is aspiring to epic cinema, both in his themes and his visuals, and most of the time it works. And, yes, there really is an intermission, just in case one needs to catch one’s breath.
“Eklavya: The Royal Guard.” Unrated. Running time: 2 hours. Exclusively at Laemmle’s Fallbrook, 6731 Fallbrook Ave., West Hills, (818) 340-8710, and Naz8 Artesia, 6440 E. South St., Lakewood, (510) 797-2000.
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it is vikrmi sanwat ( i think 2068 started).
In Tamil and Andhra it is known as Ugadi, big festival even ...
"Well TMK will easily cross OSO’s world wide gross including inflation and adjusting exchange rate (for overseas) + 25 Cr"
In ...
This price is correct as we did see with MNIK that despite good collections, it barely recovered its cost in ...
Quite late.. but still belated Happy Bday to the Ace Khan. Was out of city and didnt get time to ...
Let me start a war ;)
minus SRK == 20 crore less and 3 year of inflation 
So it is 35 crores for theatrical rights.And 25 crores for India.
So De Dana Dan was sold for 20 crores ...
Very Superb price, Akki was the one who spoilt it out with his high pay check, its good that he ...
satyam 16 February 2007
07:02:38 am
Yet another fantastic review! As I said earlier looks like VVC has crafted the best film of his career. And who better to do it with than Amitabh Bachchan?!
rajen 16 February 2007
01:36:30 pm
Everything points to an extremely satisfying movie-going experience.
Cant wait.
Would to hear more NG ers opine on this moveie.i.e Jay,Satyam,Goodfella,Abzee,Sandy
Keep the reviews coming,guys.
Khalnayak 16 February 2007
01:42:15 pm
watching it in few hours.. it seems to be a great movie but not better then Parinda (the reviews suggest) its more on the lines of ‘42 lvoe story and MK.
PS: Satyam, where are you watching the film.. Imaginasian or AMC?
Khalnayak 16 February 2007
01:43:35 pm
I am watching it at AMC, cuz Imaginasion never show promos with their films. They didn’t Eklavya’s trailer with LRM but AMC did.. so hoping that they would show MCA trailer as well!
satyam 16 February 2007
01:49:03 pm
Khalnayak: I am in the suburbs (Westchester). Will be watching it in Spring Valley.
Khalnayak 16 February 2007
01:54:54 pm
oops my bad, i mistook you as Qalandar, he ususally watches film where I do
007 16 February 2007
02:30:13 pm
Guys, I just can’t wait for this one. Five more hours to kill. Two of my all time favorite actors are in this movie…..Bachchan and Dutt. Heeee Haw….Yippi….
akshay shah 16 February 2007
02:43:01 pm
KN: i think its a few ranks better than 1942 and MK for sure! NOT quiet as wicked as PARINDA or KHAMOSH
satyam 16 February 2007
03:09:48 pm
Qalandar is on vacation Khalnayak. One must either have his vacation schedule or my work schedule. LOL!
satyam 16 February 2007
03:11:13 pm
Akshay: I am getting the sense from your review, Shahid’s and a couple of others online that the film (as I initially suspected) could have been longer than it is. In other words rather than ’stretching things out’ this film seems to have the plot threads for a greater length.
akshay shah 16 February 2007
04:58:19 pm
Satyam: You were SPOT ON with that prediction, the movie needed to be longer even if it was by 30 mins longer to further develop story and characters!
Khalnayak 16 February 2007
08:51:31 pm
Just got back watching..i am slightly disappointed here. Was expecting it to be on par with Parinda but this doesn’t even come close. I feel that MK and ‘42 were slightly better then this but that doesn’t say its a bad film or such. Eklavya is a very good film an awesome performance frm Bachchan! It easily ranks among his best work (Khakee/Dev) since his comeback. Saif was good as well and so was the rest of the cast! I would give it a 7.5/10! (.5 less then MK and ‘42) The first half was outstanding!
akshay shah 16 February 2007
09:33:53 pm
Thanks KN, I liked it a little more than 1942 and MK! The second half of MK just fell apart IMO, and though EKLAVYA is weaker in the second half, it doesn’t fall apart imho
akshay shah 16 February 2007
09:34:15 pm
BTW-U see the new munnabhai trailer;)
henry 16 February 2007
10:05:52 pm
It’s good that the foreign critics are liking it. This 1:45 mins trailer was really made for them, not the Indian audience.
Khalnayak 17 February 2007
08:53:18 am
Yea i saw the trailer Akshay, to be honest..i am kinda disappointed here! Though the trailer was overall good but it did seem to be a kind of desperate effort (not entirely)..i.e. trying to make another Munnabhai just for the heck of it with some childish jokes etc..
The trailer wasn’t of Munnabhai standard! I thought the LRM trailer (which came with Parineeta in 2005) was much better and intelligent. In saying that i seriously hope that i hope wrong and Raju does come up with a film which is either on par or better then MBBS/LRM!
satyam 17 February 2007
09:14:36 am
Khalnayak, you’re right in that the LRM trailer seemed better but this latest one was still a riot! And remember this is just a teaser. The film will be more than this. Of course each time you make a sequel some freshness is lost. LRM was an incredible sequel in that it was as good as the first one. But I do think that there’s enough of a legacy here and Raju Hirani is intelligent enough to understand this so that the film will live upto expectations. The audience I saw it with reacted extremely favorably to the preview.
Khalnayak 17 February 2007
09:20:27 am
“And remember this is just a teaser. The film will be more than this.”
Thats why i have not totally lost hope yet. Raju has not even written the script, so i hope he spends a lot of time and add a lot fresh stuff! He did seem very confident in the interview i saw of him!
“The audience I saw it with reacted extremely favorably to the preview.”
Similar stuff here as well..