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The New Year has started and after witnessing ups and downs of the first popular awards for the last year announced last night, I entered the theater to watch the first film of this year, Halla Bol. I was quite curious to see what my dear friend Raj Kumar Santoshi has made this time. His last film Family was like a trash from a brilliant and wonderful director. So, all his well wishers expected a lot from him this time. Santoshi who almost transformed the image of an angry young man with films like Ghayal, Damini and Ghatak, succumbed to the box office pressure later. He did make some very good films like Lajja though it didn't do well for him, and some like Khakee that did wonders for its cast and crew.

With Halla Bol, Santoshi has tried to go back to his roots and focus on common man's life that has almost gone unnoticed during the last one decade or so. The irony of this Friday is that both the films released share one common string in the story: common man visualizing uncommon dreams like that of becoming a super star. While My Name is Anthony Gonslaves takes this line and keeps digging as much masala from it as its director E. Niwas could, Santoshi takes a U-turn and manages to salvage his image to some extent. He has a very strong point of view, courtesy Jessica Lal murder case, plus a very good team of technicians. However, he lacks in face value for the film. Ajay Devgan as a solo hero is not a good proposition these days and even Vidya Balan who is among the top three heroines now, does not command a good opening at the box office.

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I watch Halla Bol with some questions in mind. Though I was not old enough to understand the Halla Bol movement when it formed part of the socialist movement in India, I did witness its ugly face in Indian politics when Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav launched a "Halla Bol" against Amar Ujala, a big Hindi daily. Santoshi's Halla Bol is a welcome change from the run-of-the-mill comedy films. It takes you back to films like Kanwarlal, Inqlaab and others, depicting political hypocrisy coupled with the main protagonist working against it.

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The problem with Santoshi's film is that it starts the Inqlaab way and ends up the Yuva way. While usual Hindi film viewers prefer to see their hero bashing all the villains (wrong doers) on his own, it's very rare that a hero crusades along with the crowd. The story of Halla Bol revolves around a common man Ashfaq, played by Ajay Devgan. A real life based character of PWG (People's War Group) assists him. Pankaj Kapoor plays this role of Sidhu, a reformed history sheeter in the film. Ashfaq gets noticed in plays and turns a super star overnight.

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And, with the success and the money coming his way lead to bad omens for him and his sweet home. As Sameer Khan the superstar, Ashfaq starts enjoying the worldly pleasures of life and soon gets corrupted. This evil reaches his wife Sneha (Vidya Balan). But all that changes at a party where Sameer is a witness to a shootout and a cold-blooded crime. Santoshi takes his plot from here to a very different level to what actually happened with Shyan Munshi who is a real witness in the historical Jessica Lal murder case. Like Munshi , he turns hostile in the witness box. This sudden change of the character is actually a borderline between success and failure for Santoshi's Halla Bol.

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Raj Kumar Santoshi is very good at screenplay. His scene formation and shot division is par excellence, but sometimes he plays it too hard with the story line. Last time he did it in Lajja and failed with Ajay Devgan. He also seems to have got a fixation with Ajay Devgan post his version of Bhagat Singh film. Liking a particular star is one thing and ruining your career is another. Ajay Devgan is actor by default and instead of learning and improving his acting; he has gone into a super star mode kind of thing. Sooner Ajay Devgan learns the fact that his fans are turning away from him because of this habit, the better will it be for him as an actor. He has failed earlier as a producer, now before he is tested as a director; he needs to put his records as an actor straight.

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Moving on from Ajay Devgan to Pankaj Kapoor who won the best actor in a negative role award last night, makes you feel like traveling from a field to a mountain in one go. Pankaj Kapoor is one of the endangered species of senior actors in Bollywood, who make you feel value for money. He acts his role like he does always, but the problem here is not with acting, but his brand value. Whatever he does, Pankaj Kapoor is still miles away from attaining stature of the likes of Amrish Puri. He has a certain fan following, but he is not a craze among masses. Vidya Balan should seriously think about her selection of films. It is not that Halla Bol is a bad film for her, but what matters is that you get to deliver on screen. Darshan Jariwala leaves his mark again on celluloid and so does Anjan Shrivastava.

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As a director, Santoshi's caliber was never in doubt and he proves his credentials once again in Halla Bol. He is a very good technician and gets excellent output from his team mates. But he needs to be more attentive on creative part of his directorial soul. For the weekend, Halla Bol is not a bad choice over My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, as it doesn't bore you, at least.