M9.news’s review of Vakeel Saab has become the Talk of the industry for the past few days. We were getting a lot of calls regarding how our rating differed a lot from other popular Review writers. Usually, we do not get into these things and there are times when anyone can be wrong. But this time, WE ARE NOT WRONG.
The BO performance of the film is not at all in sync with the film’s Reviews. In the Overseas, the movie could not even touch two films old hero Naveen Polishetty’s Jathi Ratnalu even with ultra-positive ratings and a star like Pawan Kalyan.
After seeing this, shocking underperformance, a few critics who rated the film high have been giving reasons like Known subject (Remake), No Comedy like Jathi Ratnalu, COVID, AP Problem, etc. Pink has been commercialized with Vakeel Saab and it has got a star like Pawan Kalyan in its ranks. All these can be at best trivial factors that should be negated by the Reviews and the star power. At least, that should have happened in the U.S. but it did not.
Have we ever seen a star hero’s film unanimously rated 3 or above performed like this in the U.S? Remember Jathi Ratnalu made a little over a million dollars under the same covid circumstances. As far as the COVID is concerned, nothing has changed in the US after that.
The overseas audience is mature enough not to look for comedy if a script carries an important message and is fairly engaging. If doing a remake is a problem, Vakeel Saab would not get a Record Premiere Number (Highest after the Pandemic). Some of the fans have opined that we rated the film as such because the team is not faithful to the remake. No, that is not the reason. If a message can be packaged with good commercial values, we believe its reach improves. All that we look for is – how good is the packaging.
If the content is on par with the high-rated reviews, they would have translated into the Word of Mouth and bring the audience to the theaters. The Reviews were wrong, the word of mouth of the General audience is different and hence the movie is underperforming. Here is why M9.news Rated the film 2.25: (Note: We do not want this piece to be out before the public holidays in India. Hence delayed it until now).
FIRST HALF:
Flashback: This is the biggest letdown. It’s not a brief ten to fifteen minutes episode, it is the major portion of the first half. The reason for Pawan Kalyan opting for a career in law is so artificial and things look super forced. Pawan Kalyan looks too awkward as a student both in terms of looks and body language. Then, there is this Shruti Hassan track. The love track looks so farcical in a serious track. The ‘Fits angle’ and the way it has ended looked too patchy. Pawan Kalyan’s expressions at her mortal remains are also a letdown.
In the entire first half, there were frequent attempts to connect the proceedings with the Janasena ideology with some dialogues which may appeal to the hardcore fans but not the general audience. We have seen films where such dialogues were blended without disturbing the flow but it is not the case with Vakeel Saab.
The first half of the film has nothing in terms of the story, execution, or even a star like Pawan Kalyan. Even the fans could not digest Pawan’s looks or body language. Usually, a film can still go on to get a better rating even with a bad first half. But that would need a terrific second half.
SECOND HALF:
The biggest high in the film is the Super Woman episode in which Pawan Kalyan is at his best. The tempo needs to be maintained in the courtroom drama but there are immediate distractions in the form of a Washroom fight and the Bar Council episode etc.
A Courtroom drama like Pink should reach a conclusion with an ample amount of logic laced with good emotion. But then, except for the Super Woman episode, there is no such logic.
We do not know how a judge can be convinced just with the emotional discourses of Pawan Kalyan. Yes, they are good but not enough to convince the audience with the story. Then there is another roadblock in the form of the Metro fight just before the judgment. There are many attempts to establish Pawan Kalyan’s Real-life character as a woman rights activist but not many to drive the story home. There were some indirect political dialogues in the second half as well but the major problem in the second half is the way how the courtroom drama is led to a conclusion. There are more legal points and logics in the Opposition’s arguments and they were supposed to be negated by similar logic. But instead we used to have endless speeches which are good to hear but do not gel with the narrative.
Having said it all, Vakeel Saab has a bad first half and a second-half which is at best watchable. The good things do happen here and there but before we can feel comfortable, the flow is disrupted. Considering all this, we had to go for a low rating.
We can be wrong, anyone can be wrong one day. But for Vakeel Saab – WE ARE NOT WRONG.
