Reference Auto

Response: Chakravyuh managed to earn around Rs 10.5 crore over the five-day (first) weekend at the box office, as per estimates despite being a great film (with a few poor performances though).

Chakravyuh was released on Wednesday (against the normal release of Friday) in order to take advantage of the Dussehra holidays. But that was not to be.

The response was good in India’s Hindi heartbelt (the northern states that is) but the average occupancy in multiplexes across the country was a poor 30-40 per cent.

Till the first Monday, total box office collections stood at Rs 12.5 crore.

It seems Chakravyuh will make up to Rs 15 crore in the next week or so and could wrap up with total collections of up to Rs 20 crore and a maximum of Rs 25 crore.

Film type: Political drama.

Cast: Abhay Deol, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Anjali Patil, Om Puri, Kabir Bedi and Esha Gupta.

Director: Prakash Jha.

Time of movie: About two and half hours.

Story: Chakravyuh clearly highlights the Naxalite movement in Madhya Pradesh (and India as a whole). It is about two friends Adil (played by Arjun Rampal) and Kabir (Abhay Deol), who find themselves at the line of fire of each other.

Adil is a high profile police officer in Chakravyuh posted in Naxalite bastion Nandighat. Whenever Adil tries to nab top Maoist leader Rajan (played by Manoj Bajpayee), he gets caught in Naxalite crossfire owing to wrong intelligence information and deceit.

Meanwhile, his friend Kabir (Abhay Deol) comes to visit him and vows to mingle with the Maoists and give Adil information about the movement of Naxal leaders.

Kabir manages to impress the Naxalites and becomes a part of the rebel group. But for how long does he give vital leads to his friend Adil?

Review: Even though the poor box office collections fail to reflect the ‘good’ quality of Chakravyuh the movie, it is a must see film like any other Prakash Jha movie. His superb direction catches the Naxalite movement in India (which is hounding several states even today) like never before.

So far as acting goes, Abhay Deol and Anjali Patil along with Manoj Bajpayee do a great job. But the rest are a letdown. Arjun Rampal’s role in Chakravyuh as a top police officer is out of place and even his moustache fails to impress the audience. Om Puri and Kabir Bedi have a limited role.

Esha Gupta, who plays the wife of Adil and friend of Kabir, is a wrong choice and is the biggest blunder in Chakravyuh.

But the plot of Chakravyuh is interesting and it can easily be a paisa wasool entertainer, which perfectly reflects the Naxalite movement in India today and is a good movie with a poor response.

Rating: 4/5.