Aakruti Bagla| Mumbai
Directed by:- Victor Mukherjee
Cast:- Anshuman Jha, Ridhi Dogra, Paresh Pahuja, Eksha Kerung and Milind Soman
Duration:- 128 minutes
Rating:- 2/5
Story
The film revolves around an animal loving vigilante Arjun Bakshi, who learns from his father to fight for those who don’t have a voice – the animals, especially dogs. He is a delivery boy and martial art trainer by profession. In pursuit of searching for his indie dog shonku, he finds out several dogs going missing and unearths the illegal animal trade industry at Kolkata port. Arjun does not shy away from breaking bones of those who trouble animals. Due to which, crime branch and police forces are in search of him. On investigating he chances upon a rare species of the Indian Striped Hyena (Lakadbaggha). Will Arjun be nabbed by the police? What tactics will he use to protect the animals? The answer to these questions lies in the films.
Review
Lakadbaggha begins on a promising note with Arjun Bakshi showing his action chops towards those ridiculing stray dogs. It then shows his daily life routine, search for shonku, to police in search of him, falling in love with Akshara D’souza, and encountering a hyena to then unearthing the illegal activity.
Well, reading this one might think that the film has a lot to offer in the 128 minutes. But, as it progresses it turns out to be a tepid fare. Initially it does touch a nerve and your heart lurches as you see the poachers greedily and heartlessly attack these creatures.
The wafer-thin plot gives no scope to director to chalk out an interesting narrative. The audiences need entertainment along with enlightenment and that’s where this film falters. The background story of vigilante hiding his face and crime branch being behind him is not explained well. Instead, time is dedicated twice to point out the past of illegal activist(Paresh Pahuja).
The screenplay turns out to be stretched with various unnecessary elements and repetitive dialogues. The build-up overall appeared staged and unconvincing.
The cinematography of Junglee has nothing new to offer. The action sequences are astutely choreographed but they lack gravity. Lacking songs, the backgrounds is in sync with the theme.
When it comes to performances, Anshuman Jha fails to pack a punch. Milind Soman is sincere, in a special appearance. Ridhi dogra fails to making a striking Bollywood debut as her character is poorly written. Newbie Eksha Kerung too suffers a similar fate. While Paresh Pahuja played his part well as there was not much that his character could offer.
Overall, Anshuman Jha’s action adventure has the right intention, but much is lost between intent and execution.
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