Zila Ghaziabad Review

Zila Ghaziabad Movie Review by Indicine critic Joginder Tuteja.

Now this is one ‘masala’ film that could have been so much better. A film that deals with men in a land where it’s the language of gun that roars the loudest,

‘Zila Ghaziabad’ starts off quite well and sets the stage. However when it is time to actually move on to the fourth and fifth gear, surprisingly it starts losing acceleration and then takes a reverse gear, hence turning out to be a patchy ride.

There are gang-wars and more happening in this ‘Zila Ghaziabad’ where Paresh Rawal and Ravi Kissen are finding themselves on the opposite sides. While Arshad Warsi and Vivek Oberoi are supporting Rawal, a misunderstanding results in former switching sides and joining Kissen. Meanwhile Vivek gets a reason of himself to fight it out. Ultimately everyone is fighting each other and once Sanjay Dutt, a cop, enters the scene, you actually end up losing track of who is fighting whom, why and for what.

Now that puts you back as an audience since the first half actually has quite a few interesting moments that end up making this Anand Kumar film an entertaining watch till mid point. Arshad’s entry (superb), his conversations with Paresh Rawal, the scenes at Panchayat, Vivek’s transition from a teacher to a gangster, the gang wars that follow and then Dutt’s entry into the scene – you do end up liking what is presented on screen.

Of course there are some loose ends here as well, the biggest turn off being the love story between Vivek Oberoi and Charmee Kaur. It makes an entry at all the wrong points in the film and manages to bore you practically every time. However you still manage to sit through it because Anand manages to bring his film on track every time the male protagonists take on each other.

However it’s the second half where the film starts slipping. While when one thought that Sanjay Dutt use his mind games to finish off the antagonists, sparks fly only at a point here or there. Also, with action ruling the roost and the entire concentration on making actors fly in air, the real essence of the story is somewhere lost.

In fact this is when it also strikes you the film is pretty much on the same lines as ‘Rakht Charitra’ with Vivek practically reprising the same character that he had played in the Ram Gopal Varma flick. So right from being a simpleton to his family being bumped off to him turning a gangster to his association with politicians to an election being fought, the similarities are way too many to be ignored.

Meanwhile the person who benefits most is Arshad Warsi. He is quite good as a villain and though one does wish that there was more to him and his characterisation in the second half, the fact remains that he gets surrounded by too many actors after a while, including Ravi Kissen who is actually quite good. Also, ‘Zila Ghaziabad’ would go down as yet another Dutt film where he sleepwalked through a role. The one who did make sure that the audience stayed well awake was Geeta Basra. She sizzled in her item number and kept the ‘masala’ element going. Meanwhile Shreya Saran too had one such number to her name though it unfortunately came at a very wrong time.

Eventually ‘Zila Ghaziabad’ turns out to be a film which possibly carried good potential of being an engaging watch, had the script being spiced with enough dramatic episodes that kept the narrative together. However with action taking over the proceedings and becoming repetitive after a while, the end result isn’t really enthralling.

At the box office, the film has taken an okay start at single screens though in multiplexes it has been expectedly lukewarm. With high costs involved, this expensive film would have to show some real jumps and stay consistent at the single screens at least to bring in some respectable numbers.

Rating:

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