The chess is considered one of the most intelligent games and also mirrors the reality of life. The calculated moves done by players on the chessboard are somewhere a reflection of how similar moves are made by people in real life as well to counter or ‘checkmate’ their opponent. And this is what forms the basic premise of Wazir and the story structured around it makes for an interesting watch. Although it has some blemishes, 2016 makes a good start thanks to Wazir!

The story of the movie: Danish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) and Pandit Omkarnath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan) have been wronged and the common dilemma and sadness is what brings them together. They become buddies while playing rounds of chess. Circumstances compel them to face their biggest opponent – Yazaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul) and the mysterious Wazir, the latter who wreaks havoc like never before in their lives.



Wazir is just 103 minutes long and like any Vidhu Vinod Chopra film, it doesn’t drag or gets needlessly stretched anywhere. It also strikes a great balance – it moves slowly and yet there are no ‘timepass’ moments. Each scene serves as a purpose. The film begins on a lovely note and soon the tragedy sets in that is very moving. The action sequence in the first 15 minutes is very exciting. Things get better as Panditji enters the narrative. The manner in which Danish and Panditji’s friendship grows (especially after their vodka session) is lovely. The entire murder mystery bit is also worth watching. The interval point is crackling. The second half gets more exciting as the enemies try to ‘checkmate’ the thick friends and it’s interesting to see how they retaliate. The pre-climax however is a bit of a downer. But thankfully, the climax takes the film many notches higher.

On the flipside, Wazir has too many cinematic liberties. The entire Kashmir episode is entertaining but is very unconvincing. In fact, despite the great climax, a few questions remain unanswered and goes bouncer. And that doesn’t go well with a film like Wazir that more or less is in a realistic set up.

Speaking of performances, Farhan Akhtar doesn’t get to flash his wonderful smile often as per the character’s demand. But he gives a great performance and brings out the angst wonderfully, especially in the beginning scenes. At several places, he also underplays and it just proves how Farhan is evolving with each film. Amitabh Bachchan is adorable and gives a great performance. Notice how he brings something new to the table with each act! The mannerisms, the dialogue delivery, the eye contact – it’s drastically different from any of his recent performances. Great work! Aditi Rao Hydari (Ruhana) looks lovely and gives an endearing performance. She never goes overboard and the entire trauma of hers looks very convincing. Manav Kaul is amazing and deserves more screen space. Neil Nitin Mukesh rocks in his small role. John Abraham (SP) is dashing and supercool, like always but he is there for just few minutes. Anjum Sharma (Sartaj) is fine. The actor playing Ruhi shines.



Music is nicely incorporated in the film and doesn’t serve as roadblocks. Shantanu Moitra’s Tere Bin makes the maximum impact thanks to the way it’s filmed. Moitra’s Maula is also lovely while Ankit Tiwari’s Tu Mere Pass is moving. Javed-Aejaz’s action is realistic and exciting. Sanu John Varughese’s cinematography is eye-catching especially in the interval scene. The locales of Kashmir are also nicely shot. Rohit Kulkarni’s background music goes well with the film’s mood. Abhijeet Deshpande and Gazal Dhaliwal’s dialogues are simple but layered and make a lot of sense. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s story is exciting and more or less original. Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s screenplay is fine but has a few rough edges. Director Bejoy Nambiar is great with technicalities and uses the light, sound well. His handling of slow motion scenes is superb, as he had proved in Shaitan. However, he is capable of doing much better. He has the talent and here’s hoping Bejoy gets back in the league of Shaitan with his fourth film!

Some of the best scenes:
1. The song Tere Bin and Maula
2. The action scene in the beginning
3. Danish at the graveyard
4. Danish meets Panditji for the first time
5. Danish-Panditji drink late night
6. Panditji tells Ruhana to let go of her anger
7. The intermission point
8. Danish runs to stop Panditji on Delhi roads at night
10. The climax

On the whole, Wazir is a decent thriller. It’s just 103 minutes long and moves at a nice pace and doesn’t stretch even for a moment. The action scenes are great while the climax is surely something to watch out for. However, it’s unconvincing and there are too many cinematic liberties that don’t go well in such kind of a film that is set in a realistic space. Performances are exemplary and the film is surely worth a watch for the performances of Farhan and Amitabh Bachchan!

My rating - *** out of 5!