Futuristic film, bleak future

Parbina Rashid

Skyscrapers, fancy night clubs, sophisticated surveillance… this silver city looks so inspired by Neom! But no, director Vikas Bahl does not want his viewers to wander into Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city in-progress. He cleverly injects images of Lord Ganesha and tapori dialogues. And, one is transported back to Bollywood — the present-day version.

This swanky city has a dark side, where the poor live to cater to the needs of the rich, and ultimately die of hunger and oppression. The division is marked by an iron gate and electrified fencing. The mood is all grey in this brown junkyard, but hope flickers — when a mother tells her hungry son to hold on to life as Ganapath would come to their rescue or when a rebellious Jassi (Kriti Sanon) convinces Shiva that Ganapath is their only way out.

How do they know that Ganapath would come? Because of a prophecy by their community elder Thalapathi (Amitabh Bachchan), who keeps them together and has made a fighting arena to keep the spirit buoyed till Ganapath arrives. Did Thalapathi name his son Shiva (Rahman) because the saviour would be called Ganapath or did he name the saviour Ganapath because he would be born of Shiva? Mythology has a strong presence.

Anyway, the film is not about Thalapathi but about Guddu (Tiger Shroff), whose life story unfolds in a post-nuclear apocalypse world and his transformation from a self-obsessed fool to a people’s person. Guddu in his early avatar is a Casanova, a martial arts expert involved with a betting syndicate, frequents a night club and goes to bed with dozens of women. But this charmed life is soon disrupted as Guddu gets caught in a compromising position with the partner of his boss, John the Englishman (Ziad Bakri). The punishment for such a dalliance is grave. He is buried alive.

But Guddu can’t die. At least not until he proves his grandfather’s prophecy right. Bahl invokes divinity here and Guddu comes out of his grave, alive and kicking, to retrieve his red coat from the enemy and moving to the other side of the city, to his own people.

Guddu the Casanova has transformed into Guddu the lover boy, serenading the mean girl Jassi. Soon love changes all hearts concerned. Guddu gets to dance a lot in the first half and fight aplenty in the second. Tiger has proven his mettle in both throughout his career, and he does not disappoint here as well. But in ‘Ganapath’, he faces stiff competition from Kriti Sanon. Her action moves are convincing and she is in great shape.

But what’s not in great shape is the execution of Bahl’s vision. What’s the logic of taking viewers to a futuristic city and then confining them to a tacky club? Yes, that’s the only spot the camera focuses on. Even Guddu’s transformation to Ganapath is marred by poor graphics. In some scenes, it looks as if Tiger’s frames have been cut and pasted on computer-generated images.

And in the second half, when mercifully, Guddu ditches his taporiness, the never-ending training sessions and MMA fights take a toll, because of the sameness and the predictable outcomes. The syndicate boss, Dalini, remains a mysterious entity. Probably, they want to keep the intrigue factor going till they come out with the sequel. Yes, this one is being presented as part 1 with the tagline, ‘A hero is born’. Brace yourselves for a sequel.