Ganapath (2023) :
Movie Review -
Ganapath Review: Vikas Bahl teams up with Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, and Amitabh Bachchan for the first action film of his career, "Ganapath". Maybe it's not just his genre. Not his game at all. The filmmaker has a solid history of Chillar Party, Queen, and Super 30, but then he has the likes of Shaandar and Goodbye too. Ganapath may comfortably sit in the latter's club. It's a futuristic world, alright, but since we don't know what's going to happen in the future, Bahl also didn't know anything. With no reference or knowledge about the future in his hands, Bahl dreams of an action adventure that falls short of almost every aspect of filmmaking. It's good to see Tiger trying something new and also to see national award-winner Kriti supporting him in the same, but as we know, a film is not an individual's efforts. Ganapath falls as a whole experience.
Set in a future timeline, Ganapath is about rich people taking over the poor people's world. Dalpati (Amitabh Bachchan) predicts that the poor will have their messiah, the fighter Ganapath. Years later, Guddu (Tiger Shroff) is working as an assistant for a fighting gambler. He has an affair with his boss' GF, so the boss cuts him out with death. However, Guddu is saved by one of the gang members, who realises that Guddu is the Messiah Ganapath, for whom they have been waiting for years. Guddu is sent to poor people's land, and he meets Shiva and Jassi (Kriti Sanon). With proper training, Guddu transforms into Ganapath, a mercenary who sets out on a mission to safeguard his people from a notorious syndicate headed by Dalini (the boss of the evil whose face is revealed at the end).
Written by Vikas Bahl, Ganapath's script lacks newness, novelty, prime factor, and sometimes even basic sense. They were set out to create a dystopian world but ended up making a regular humdrum MMA fighting game. Is that their idea of a futuristic world? There should have been something new, something unique, something unseen, and something unheard of. Alas, there is the same world again except for the animated city of rich people while the poor ones live in mountains-something similar to the Mad Max world, as Tiger says. Also, the tapori language was completely unnecessary. It's a mismatch, you see. The screenplay dabbles, and how! You can see it yourself since I am not giving away any spoilers.
On the positive side, Tiger Shroff was seen doing something different. But again, the writing spoiled many things for him and his character. Those flip-ups and stunts are not new to any Tiger Shroff fan. So basically, it's a world that's not new. Kriti, on the other hand, enters with a bang as her entry scene is kick A.. Desi Lara Croft, or whatever you call it, which later turns into a typical abla naari. Big B Amitabh Bachchan shines in a cameo role that sets the base for Ganapath's story. Elli AvrRam looks hot in a blink-and-miss cameo, and the same is the case with Shruthy Menon. Girish Kulkarni, Ziad Bakri, Jameel Khan, and Rahman add decent support with their overly made-up characters.
Ganapath has a mixed-music album. Jai Ganesha is a great number. It feels so freaking amazing on the big screen. It's stimulating and energetic. Sadly, other songs don't have the same magic (including raps), and they fall flat. The cinematography gives a few good frames of this VFX-driven world that's nothing noticeable. Ganapath's dialogue may hit the chords with a certain section of the audience. Words like Humne mast pela, Maine Khela, Meri hatati hai, Life me kuch karne ka, and all don't seem plausible to my idea of a new-age action film, but who knows? The town is full of masses speaking the same language every day. It's their own tongue, after all. There were certain expectations from Vikas Bahl, as he was making a dystopian and high-tech action entertainer, and that too a two-part series. Unfortunately, all those expectations are buried with Ganapath. It might have worked with a different approach, but somehow things just didn't add up well. Everything went wrong, from the script to the execution. An ambitious project with such a high budget deserved a better outcome, for sure.
RATING - 3/10*
