Review : Main Atal Hoon : A biopic on a Gentleman Politician!

#BharatRatna #AtalBihariVajpayee was a poet, #RSS worker and a gentleman politician. Even in difficult embarrassing situations he never compromised his beliefs, teachings or values. His poetic addresses in the parliament used to be admired by his rivals too. A biopic, #MainAtalHoon, is based on the life and times of this great leader under whose regime India became a nuclear power. The movie encompasses Atalji’s life from his childhood till his stern stand during the Kargil war. Ravi Jadhav, a national award winning director, has directed this biopic which is inspired from a book ‘Atalji: Kavihridayachya Rashtranetyachi Charitkahani’ by Sarang Darshane.

Main Atal Hoon narrates the prominent happenings in the life of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Starting from a modest worker to rising to be the Prime Minister of India. The pains and difficulties he faced during his illustrious political career are covered in detail. The achievements during his tenure as PM, like Pokharan Nuclear Test, Kargil War, starting a bus from New Delhi to Lahore are projected in an interesting manner. His efforts of extending a friendship hand to Pakistan and taking tough decisions like war when the neighbouring country waged a war on India are presented nicely.

The incidents are shown without backstories hence people not aware of Indian politics will find it difficult to relate. The movie is loaded with too many incidents which hampers the pace of the film. Though the camerawork of Lawrence Alex Dcunha is excellent offering visual treats. The soundtrack by Salim-Sulaiman, Kailash Kher, Payal Dev and Amritraj is okay but Monty Sharma’s background score is effective. Ravi Jadhav has presented the exact essence of the noted personality and has extracted nuanced performances from his actors. Pankaj Tripathi as Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee excels as he present the main character with perfect mannerism without mimicking. He looks the character especially during long shots. Ekta Kaul as Vajpayee’s ‘friend’ delivers convincing performance. Piyush Mishra (Atal’s father), Raja Rameshkumar Sevak (L K Advani), Gauri Sukthankar (Sushama Swaraj) ably support.

Rating : ***