Ram Setu Review: Too simplistic, too dramatic

The long preface notwithstanding, the laboured attempt to portray Akshay Kumar as a rationalist who is talking of evidence – scientific evidence over faith gets to be a non-starter. As a viewer you know the film maker is conning you and sooner than later the protagonist is going to spill the beans and show up […]

The long preface notwithstanding, the laboured attempt to portray Akshay Kumar as a rationalist who is talking of evidence – scientific evidence over faith gets to be a non-starter. As a viewer you know the film maker is conning you and sooner than later the protagonist is going to spill the beans and show up with his true colours.

Ram Setu has at its centre Dr. Aryan Kulushtera (Akshay Kumar), his wife, Prof. Gayatri (Nusrat Bharucha) and a school going kid. Aryan has just returned from a successful archaeological expedition in Afghanistan where with his Pakistan counterpart, they manage to save relics and important historical material post the Taliban explosion of the Buddha statue. Back home, however, he is faced with a litigation on the ongoing Ram Setu project where a nice and vile businessman Indrakant (Naseer) is out to get the project through even if it means creating a false notion of history and even killing those who probe the truth.

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While initially Aryan subscribes to the view that Ram Setu is a natural formation and that there is no historic evidence of its construction in the context of the Ramayana, he gets suspended for an interim report to the Apex Court . Strangely he gets an offer from Indrakant who fails to see the real Aryan.

Through the scenes, the truth unfolds before the eyes of our protagonist who now not only accepts the existence of Rama, the bridge, and the rest and but also exposes how the unholy business links is what is creating doubts on the existence of Rama and the connected epic.

The lack of intellectual honesty both in thematic content and in the artistic making of the film contribute to this non-starter. Trite to a fault you know that this is film told more than for a story or for entertainment. Well within such defined premise too, a film can be well made and can be successful.

This is neither. The cast is in itself a give-away. Akshay films do not have top grade heroines and so you make do with the likes of Nusrat Barucha and Jacqueline Fernandez getting a script holiday to hometown or at least country. Aseem Mishra works magic with his cinematography. Everything else in the film is average when you are kind with your assessment. Akshaya is going through a rough patch not only at the box office but also before the camera. The one person who tries his best is Satyadev Kancharana who the film maker wants you to perceive as the contemporary Hanuman.

Tthis film is over simplistic in dealing with the larger issue. Too simplistic to be taken seriously and too dramatic to be reasoned.