Movie Review Aalaap Hindi 2012

At times just a noble thought isn't good enough for making a full-fledged film. Hence, a lot many movies make it to the cinema halls but none actually sail through. Trying their luck with a novel idea at hand is a small time film called Aalaap. Let's find out whether it hits the bulls eye or not.

Rahul (Amit Purohit) is a youth icon at college. So much so, that his social activities take on a state level and he suddenly becomes the blue eyed boy of media as well as the entire state. He is then chosen to head the cultural activities as a college student being groomed by Bhaiyyaji (Vijay Raaz). The two come together to hunt a band and come across three rebellious youngsters played by Pitobash Tripathy, Harsh Rajput and Aabid Shamim who have a rock band. When Rahul meets the trio and convinces them to team up with him for a state wide cultural function, all four develop a deep bond. However, their lives get affected when they see an army truck being blown up by Naxals and realise that the government measures are ineffective. They decide to use their music to bring love and peace to the conflict torn region. Whether they succeed in their plans or not follows through the rest of the plot.

The one line plot of the film is about the four boys taking to music in order to bring about peace and order. Frankly, at the outset, it appears that filmmaker Manish Manikpuri does have a potent plot at hand. The idea of changing the outlook of many extremists through rock band shows could've made for an interesting watch as never before has a theme such as this been dealt with in films. However, it's the narrative and execution of it all that ruins the novelty. The idea of just four people carrying along their jing-bang to bring a change appears too far-fetched.

Although having a musical film dealing with naxalites can be intriguing, the songs only hinder the movie viewing experience in this case rather than aiding it. One cannot blame the numbers themselves as being composed by one of the most popular bands in India Agnee, the songs do have a nice ring to it but they all end up going in vain.

Moreover, he also manages to rope in actors of experience and caliber. But where he falls flat is in the execution of it all. The likes of Vijay Raaz, Murli Sharma, Raghubir Yadav and Abhimanyu Singh all appear in the film for the heck of it, only showcasing the lack of efforts put on the charactersketch.

To sum it up, Aalaap has the heart in the right place but goes awry in its projection. Could've been a lot better.

Rating : 2/5