Movie Review: Antim

Antim Movie Review Rating: 2 of 5

Star Cast: Salman Khan, Aayush Sharma, Mahesh Manjrejkar, Sachin Khedekar, Mahima Makwana

Director: Mahesh Manjrekar

Mahesh Manjrekar tweaks Pravin Tarde’s OG script with the help of Abhijeet Deshpande, Siddharth Salvi but misses to lay a similar base for emotions & drama. Comparisons are bound to happen if you adopt a classic & that’s what hits Antim as a film the most. The OG story runs as a flashback of a heart-thumping chase sequence of the anti-hero, but Mahesh follows a simple linear route dampening the intrigue to some extent.

The white shade of Rahul’s character in Mulshi Pattern is highlighted brightly in the first 10 minutes when his character gives an emotional speech about how much he hates his father’s decisions and the way he asks permission from his friend before shifting to another city. Over there (Mulshi Pattern), Rahul & Vitthal’s (played by Upendra Limaye who plays the role of crime-lord Nanya in Antim chemistry scores extra in drama with scenes like inspector always trying to button him up which is used as an emotional moment towards the end.

That one ends by mentioning how the film is a tight slap to all the farmers who sold their land dirt cheap, this one focuses more on things that hardly matter such as the love track between Rahul, Manda & hence fails to do the most important thing which the original did i.e. evoke empathy against the helpless farmers. Here, Mahesh Manjrekar skips many many such fine points which could easily have elevated the drama quotient.

Though Karan Rawat’s camerawork is a smooth ride even through the well-choreographed fight sequences, the dim colour theme gets too dull to blend in with the heavy dosage of action happening on-screen. Editor Bunty Nagi doesn’t get anything as challenging as Rameez Dalal, Mayur Hardas & Akshay Salve had for Mulshi Pattern due to its non-linear style of storytelling.

Aayush Sharma gives an earnest performance with all the pressure. He doesn’t get as good dialogues as Om, which is one of the few reasons why he falls short in exploring the ‘lunatic’ shade of Rahul’s character.

Salman Khan is nowhere as impactful as the no-nonsense, law-abiding policeman as Upendra Limaye was in the original. This remains to be the most-tweaked character to stuff more ‘bhai-ness’ to it, hence taking away from an already interesting arc built before. Mahesh Manjrejkar mirrors his performance from the Marathi version & he’s as usual flawless at it.

Sachin Khedekar replaces Mohan Joshi facing the similar burnt of script-tweaking issues. Performance-wise he balances drama as well as Joshi but because it’s weak compared to the before, he doesn’t get as much affection. Mahima Makwana gets to display more of Manda than the original & she makes sure to make the most of it. Though the extension of her track doesn’t add much value to the overall script, her presence is surely magnetic & she should only shine from here.

Upendra Limaye as Nanya Bhai never aims to match the magic created by Pravin Tarde, he plays the very important character in his own style and manages to achieve the desired impact brutally yet beautifully. Jisshu Sengupta & Nikitin Dheer as leaders of the rival gangs are just about okay without getting much to explore.