Chess is an intriguing game, where the player plans ahead anticipating the opponent's moves. Strrategies are umpteen. It's been played across the world for centuries, recently starting to lose popularity against modern visually appealing strategy video based games. Also Bollywood has been stuck with formulaé for considerable part of first decade, Mr. SRK continuing to stick to it. So, at this stage, i must compliment Vidhu Vinod Chopra for attempting a story based on the waning game, winning a dream cast and getting it directed as a fast paced thriller with original action sequences.
The story where people with similar tragedy come together to forge a friendship and fight against the past while plotting revenge on the backdrop of Kashmir, terrorism, politics and ATS is a broader way of reaching out to the audience while under lies the chess play, with a twist towards the end. I use my limited chess knowledge to dissect the characters below:
Wazir - although means minister, is the queen of the chess board. The all powerful character is the main weapon against the rival kingdom. In the movie, wazir portrayed as the ultimate ace of the evil badshaah, brings vital energy to the proceedings. He threatens, taunts, stabs and bombs the major adversary of the evil king. Played feverishly by Neil Nitin Mukesh, albeit for a short span, in a style reminiscent of classic villains makes you wonder where Bollywood lost all its villains.
Pawn is the foot soldier moving one-step forward, helpless on is own, if viewed in relation to other characters on the chess board. With only one step at a time, the pawn has to do the most planning, especially if his kingdom has already lost its wazir and needs a support. Played by Amitabh Bacchan with a handlebar staché combined with french beard speaking heart melting Hindi mixed with urdu, steals every screen he's in with his voice and energy. For a decapitated man, he's very independent and the audience would wish every person facing such odds physically and emotionally to fight back so well.
The Elephant lies in wait at the corner of the chessboard, to be unleashed madly when the king is threatened is his own courtroom. It can move only through a straight path, but destroys everything in it's path. Farhan, strangely sober, plays the elephant buried in guilt, befriended by a pawn, finds a new direction which he pursues until the kingdom is won. He's physically fit, awkward may be consciously as an ATS sharp shooter and surprisingly gets all his spy work done, even after being suspended.
Where the plot goes wrong is, when the pawn acts as a king, the elephant acts as a pawn guided and blindly following the path shown, and all the while, the rival king is busy playing another game without a care for the pawn or the elephant.
Performance wise, Amitabh is brilliant while Farhan deserves praise for choosing a role way out of his comfort zone. Aditi looks pretty and the child actors ooze with confidence. Watch wazir if you like chess, are not into much of romantic sing and dance routines and want to promote those rare Bollywood thrillers
The story where people with similar tragedy come together to forge a friendship and fight against the past while plotting revenge on the backdrop of Kashmir, terrorism, politics and ATS is a broader way of reaching out to the audience while under lies the chess play, with a twist towards the end. I use my limited chess knowledge to dissect the characters below:
Wazir - although means minister, is the queen of the chess board. The all powerful character is the main weapon against the rival kingdom. In the movie, wazir portrayed as the ultimate ace of the evil badshaah, brings vital energy to the proceedings. He threatens, taunts, stabs and bombs the major adversary of the evil king. Played feverishly by Neil Nitin Mukesh, albeit for a short span, in a style reminiscent of classic villains makes you wonder where Bollywood lost all its villains.
Pawn is the foot soldier moving one-step forward, helpless on is own, if viewed in relation to other characters on the chess board. With only one step at a time, the pawn has to do the most planning, especially if his kingdom has already lost its wazir and needs a support. Played by Amitabh Bacchan with a handlebar staché combined with french beard speaking heart melting Hindi mixed with urdu, steals every screen he's in with his voice and energy. For a decapitated man, he's very independent and the audience would wish every person facing such odds physically and emotionally to fight back so well.
The Elephant lies in wait at the corner of the chessboard, to be unleashed madly when the king is threatened is his own courtroom. It can move only through a straight path, but destroys everything in it's path. Farhan, strangely sober, plays the elephant buried in guilt, befriended by a pawn, finds a new direction which he pursues until the kingdom is won. He's physically fit, awkward may be consciously as an ATS sharp shooter and surprisingly gets all his spy work done, even after being suspended.
Where the plot goes wrong is, when the pawn acts as a king, the elephant acts as a pawn guided and blindly following the path shown, and all the while, the rival king is busy playing another game without a care for the pawn or the elephant.
Performance wise, Amitabh is brilliant while Farhan deserves praise for choosing a role way out of his comfort zone. Aditi looks pretty and the child actors ooze with confidence. Watch wazir if you like chess, are not into much of romantic sing and dance routines and want to promote those rare Bollywood thrillers