Akira Movie Review: When The Dame Turns Dabangg...

After playing the 'demure dame' in almost all of her films, Sonakshi Sinha has finally taken inspiration from her leading men to kick some butt this time around and though Sonakshi might gladden the hearts of the proponents of 'Nari Shakti', does that make the film worth a watch? Let's find out…

The story starts in Rajasthan, where Akira Sharma (Sonakshi), a young gal who learned martial arts as a kid after being assaulted by a local goon, is convinced by her widowed mother to move to Mumbai to stay with some relatives.

Akira reluctantly agrees to shift to the big, bad city and starts making an impact on everyone from the local bullies to an overenthusiastic cop trying to control a protest march by college students.

However, what starts off like Ram Gopal Varma's Shiva, soon moves on to other issues and we find Akira getting entangled in a convoluted plot involving corrupt cops, a briefcase full of cash, a blackmailer and a kleptomaniac on the loose. How Akira manages to emerge victories despite the lack of support from her own family forms the rest of the plot.

Sonakshi Sinha looks svelte and fit and is quite good in her action scenes. Indeed, it is a pleasure to watch her beat up bad guys with her fists and kicks, though her perpetually surly expression could have been worked on. However, Akira is a powerful character and Sonakshi has done full justice to her role, though we could not help think that her strong and silent type performance seemed like the female version of all those roles played by Sunny Deol in the 90s.

Another actor to watch out in this film is Anurag Kashyap as the corrupt cop ACP Rane. Kashyap seems to be having a great time playing the baddie and is deliciously diabolical in his role. Kashyap's last few films as a director might have not made much of a splash, but the man has a talent for acting and we hope we get to see more of him on silver screens. Kashyap's Rane is gleefully evil and proves to be an able foil to the strong and silent Akira. The film also stars Konkona Sen Sharma, who plays a heavily pregnant cop investigating this whole mess (Fargo, anyone?) and is decent enough. However, if you want my opinion, the film is worth a watch mainly for the action scenes and Kashyap. Amit Sadh and Atul Kulkarniare totally wasted in their special appearances.

As far as the film goes, though it has a promising start and an enjoyable first half, the narrative is too long-winded and tends to veer off in different directions. The director tries to stuff as many issues as possible in one film, so there is a comment on acid attacks, communal harmony, woman power, fake encounters et al. Also, the pace of the film could have been crisper.

The screenplay is quite weak and once the novelty of a feisty female protagonist smashing bad guys wears off, there is not much that the film offers as far as the plot is concerned. In one scene, Rane tells his subordinate, ''aapne toh game ki Lanka laga di''- something that would have been true if it had been aimed at director AR Murugadoss too.

However, this is not to say that the film is not worth a watch, but don't go with too many expectations.