A
remake of 2011 Tamil film Mouna Guru, Murugadoss when he adapted the film to
Bollywood replaced the male version with a female oriented subject that has a
martial arts trained Akira quite impressively portrayed by Sonakshi Sinha.
Though the product is not bad, it could have been far better had it converted
the sincere efforts of two people in front of the camera into something
convincing.A sincere family man and a loving father could not see her daughter
Akira becoming a victim of eve-teasing and acid attacks at the hands of men.
Unlike her female friends who learn dance and moves ahead in life in an
orthodox fashion, Akira is taught martial arts at the instance of her father as
a self defence mechanism and for reacting against any sort of injustice and harassment.The
film begins with a shocking scene and takes us to fourteen years back where the
young girl Akira grows up in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The family consisting of the
lead protagonist and her mother moves to Mumbai at the instance of her
brother.Reluctantly Akira relocate to Mumbai and pursue her studies but
unfortunately gets embroiled in a cover-up led by four corrupt police men lead
by ACP Govind Rane. What happens to her, how she fights against the people who
have plotted the evil plan against her and how those cops without any level of
mercy try to ruin the life of this young girl form the crux of the
storyline.The beginning portion especially the pre-intermission portion shows
lot of promise andis very much engaging with life in it. But the latter half
question the senses with too much of unconvincing things happening. Murugadoss
has tried his best in lifting the film to the next level but the weakness in
screenplay acted as a thorn in that mission. A better packaging and treatment
after the halfway mark could have done wonders for this film but unfortunately
the director could not perform anything magical to lift the sagging film out of
doldrums.Giving a welcome change to the usual pattern in Bollywood where the
male hero fighting against the bad people through a role reversal by casting
afemale for that duty is noteworthy but that itself doesn't make up for a
overwhelming movie experience. Couple of instances where the directorattempting
to convey relevant messages to the public is praiseworthy. But the script lacks
the firepower in it to retain the energy till the very endas the steam is
almost lost by midway through the cat and mouse game between Akira and cops.The
backbone and soul of the film without any question is Sonakshi Sinha and Anurag
Kashyap. Stunning acts from both of them as Akira and ACP Govind Rane. Sonakshi
has definitely put on extra efforts into the action side apart from bringing
outa solid act as the protagonist with dual shade in the character.This should
rank among one of her best performance after the intense Lootera. Well for
Kashyap, I hope that he gets more such performance oriented roles to showcase
the otherside of his newly discovered talent apart from direction.Konkona Sen
Sharma as investigating officer Rabia seems to be a poorly etched out
character. Thoughshe has tried her best, the script hasn't given her ample
space to display her acting talents. Among the other supporting actors, the
three cops accompanying ACP Rane were apt in those roles.Camera work was good.
Sreekar Prasad's editing kept the flow and movement from each scene intact.
Background score was effective and music was just okay.Overall, Akira is
nothing more than an average filmwhich is backed by notable performances. we
would recommend the film only for Anurag Kashyap and Sonakshi Sinha's efforts.
But the sad part is that their notable acts have gone wasted and has
contributed more or less for a lost cause.
Verdict: it’s a one time watchable
movie.
Rating - 2.5 / 5
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