critic's rating: 2.5/5

Movie: Rangoon 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Quick take: Epic visuals, ho-hum story 

Review: There is no denying the fact that Vishal Bhardwaj makes movies that defy the norm. He has a distinct story telling style. He takes relevant stories and weaves an interesting yarn. His characters always have a quirky disposition. He makes movies that are genuinely unique and at times fascinating. While Rangoon looks like a certified epic, the story is a little too disjointed and formulaic. At 2 hours and 40 minutes it definitely over stays its welcome. Despite having great detail of swashbuckling movies of the ’40s and the involvement of Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army during World War II, the story never quite manages to rise above the tropes of a romantic movie. Bhardwaj's Shakespearean adaptations set a much higher benchmark. This ambitious movie though crumbles under the weight of its own ideas.

Rangoon is a love triangle set during the ’40s. Kangana Ranaut plays a movie star called Miss Julie (bearing uncanny resemblance to yesteryear Hindi film star Fearless Nadia), Saif Ali Khan plays a movie producer Rusi Billimoria (which looks inspired from the Wadia Movietone owners) while Shahid Kapoor plays an Indian army soldier Nawab Malik. The swashbuckling action movie scenario depicted in Rangoon actually belongs to the 1930s, when talkies were all the rage, and not really the time when World War II was peaking. But that bit of cinematic liberty with history doesn’t pose any serious problem. Bose's INA and its  involvement in the War and India's freedom struggle is relevant and forms the large part of the narrative. Kangana's and Saif's characters start off as the couple who are together but not all there. Once Shahid's character is thrown into the mix, things get interesting as Kangana gravitates towards the soldier with steel nerves and a golden heart. The underlying theme is told from a nationalists’ perspective covering the outlaw status of INA and their constant friction with the official British Indian forces. Richard McCabe as Maj. General Harding is the chief antagonist and possibly the most colourful character of the film. 

You could easily draw parallels to Rangoon with Hollywood war classics like Casablanca, Gone With The Wind or even the more recent Inglourious Basterds. While the story is nothing like these classics, Rangoon's mounting and filmmaking technique certainly makes it look like a Hollywood epic. The movie feels absolutely superb as it recreates the action movie sets in old Bombay. Even as the focus shifts to Eastern and North Eastern states and of course Rangoon, the movie retains its authentic visage. But where its cinematography and production design excel, the story remains a little too conventional. There’s an entire section of the film with Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and a Japanese soldier that does nothing for the story. It establishes the fact that Kangana's and Shahid's characters fall in love, but that’s a silver lining to scenes where the humour, drama and action feels forced. The final act of the movie, with a lot of melodrama, tightrope walking and blowing bridges is grossly over-the-top. 

The war choreography in the opening sequences that introduce Shahid Kapoor are simply spectacular. The build up where Shahid's and Kangana's characters meet is clichéd with too much singing and dancing. Then, once the twists of double agents and political motivations are introduced, the movie gains momentum. But then, it all leads up to the outlandish conclusion where love, sacrifice and tears take over. Rangoon is consistently inconsistent. Almost all times, it just isn’t able to decide what story it wants to tell.

Where the writing lets the movie down, the actors try their level best to keep the interest alive. Shahid Kapoor has the bulk of the action and he brings a good deal of intensity in his performance. Kangana Ranaut as an action movie icon is brilliant. One moment she’s a thrilling movie star and in the other she’s a regular girl pining for love. She handles the many shades of her character like an absolute pro. Saif brings swagger and class to his role of a wealthy action star turned producer. His character has grey shades that allow Saif to give one of the better performances of his career. British actor Richard McCabe has the most entertaining part and he manages to give a performance that could be compared to Christoph Waltz’s efforts in Inglourious Basterds. 

While the actors give it their best shot, Rangoon just isn’t able to tell its story with consistency. The movie tries to pack in too many set pieces and ideas in one narrative. Its choice of keeping the love triangle with jealousy and sacrifice isn’t the most inspired piece of writing either. Rangoon looks like a beautiful picture but it offers very little soul to support its epic goals.