According to Raj Kumar Santoshi, ‘Halla Bol’ is based on the late Safdar Hashmi, who fell victim to foul play of corrupt politician way back in 1989, while trying to do stage a street play with the same name ‘Halla Bol’. If you remember the Jessica Laal Murder, that called for justice and took long years before getting the criminals behind the bar, then this movie does the justice part a little too early. Even if not inspired, the film does have something to do with the screenplay.
Rating: 3/5
Following dreams and falling victims to aspirations and lacking courage to stand up are the central theme of Director, Story writer, Screenlay writer, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s ‘Halla Bol’. I was expecting to see the typical Raj Kumar Santoshi movie, as was apparent from the movie trailers. If you consider ‘Ghayal’ and ‘Damini’ even ‘Lajja’, the protagonists were larger than screen people who 
stood up for justice, to create a safer place to live in. In both these movies, it was one man versus society and system. Now, ‘Halla Bol’ also does have the same kind of a theme, while both these films did the trick and won a lot of acclaim, but what Halla Bol lacked was the simple fact that it was a shadow of idealistic sermons that seems just too much to bear.
Everybody would agree that Santoshi is an institution of film making by himself. He has shown that films with social issues bring in unvoiced reform, creating new dimensions of social awareness. Whatever might have been Santoshi’s intention in choosing this theme has definitely not found the right vent out. Keeping the theme at one side and the film on the other, shows a good story presented in a poor manner. It keeps you reminded of the same taste you had felt say in ‘Damini’ or ‘Ghayal’. Be it dialogues or screenplay, you keep wondering about the past works of Santoshi. Bollywood has shown in the last year that it has matured and is ready to embrace the new generation of films, take for example, Amir Khan’s ‘Taare Zameen Par’ or even the light hearted ‘Bhool Bhulaya’. What I appreciated the most about the movie was the character ‘Sidhu’ a dacoit-turned-social crusader. A strong yet subtle character and Pankaj kapoor did full justice to the character.
Ajay Devgan as Sameer Khan in Halla Bol
Ajay Devgan is Ashfaque alilas Sameer Khan, who has dreams to make it big and lives his dream from the Nukkad Natak to Bollywood. Nothing comes easy, but Sameer Khan, (mostly inspired from Shah Rukh Khan) struggles and finally we see him as the Superstar Sameer Khan. Even if he has seen the days of struggle, he is drunk with his so-called success and falls a victim of the Bollywood magic.
Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan in Halla Bol
Vidya Balan is another strong actress, who does her part in the movie with the character Sneha, the Hindu wife of a Muslim man (if you ask me again it looks to have been inspired from Gauri Khan), who not only marries a man from a different community but has been with him through thick and thin. She struggles to keep her marriage out of the fake glitters of the world her husband has so strongly fallen into.
Pankaj Kapoor as Sidhu in Halla Bol
As discussed Pankaj kapoor is ‘Sidhu’ is Ashfaque’s guru, who initiated him into the world of acting. He has reformed himself from a life of sin to help the helpless through his street plays. He outlives his character with one of the most outstanding performances. Now, it was one role that befitted and gave Pankaj Kapoor to show his skill as an actor. Darshan Jariwala who plays Gaekwad, tells the brutal face of politics and overshadowed democracy. He is not only the ruthless person but a great manipulator who knows how to interweave the strings of justice for the sake of his clan. There are a hoard of other actors who play themselves to let the image of Bollywood look original, like Jackie Shroff, Aarti Chabaria, Sridevi, Boney Kappor, Kareena Kapoor, Ruby Bhatia, Tusshar Kapur, Journalist Prabhu Chawla and director Pahlaj Nihalani. The movie also has a scene from the movie ‘Omkara’ with Kareena Kapoor to showcase Sameer Khan’s career in movies.
Ajay playing the role of Sameer Khan shows how a small time man can rise the steps of success and get bewildered by gaining success and finally has a show down and again rises to get even with the system. He is entangled in the many roles he takes up as an actor, but before long, he witnesses a gruesome murder in a high-profile party. The killers, who physically advanced toward a girl and when faced with resistance committed a cold-blooded crime, having no fear or remorse, as one is the son of a corrupt politician and the other a liquor baron. This brings in a change of heart in the protagonist and he decides to fight back, however clumsy, the whole fight back might have been done. Sameer Khan again returns to the old self of Ashfaque and supported by his Guru Sidhu and wife Sneha.
Still from Halla Bol
The movie has many a scenes that look too cooked up for creating a pre-conceived calculated effect by a director of the cadre that Santoshi belongs. The movie does showcase some quite effective dialogues, trademarked by Santoshi, but they seem to have been brought back to life from the late 1980s. With Ajay’s acting talent, he could have done better, while Vidya was good and Pankaj Kapoor taking all the credit for acting. Music Directors Sukhwinder Singh and Vanraj Bhatia have done only an OK kind of a job, though the background music by Sukhwinder Singh stands out in certain wished for places.
Over all it is a good watch, if you are in the mood for some preaching.
Rating: 3/5
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