Rustom: The Case of an Intriguing Story Gone Awry

Director Tinu Suresh Desai’s attempt at cashing on KM Nanavati case and the charisma of Akshay Kumar as a Naval Officer falters at the first step and is never really able to recover thereafter

Rustom 

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Ileana D’Cruz, Arjan Bajwa, Esha Gupta

Director: Tinu Suresh Desai

Rating: ***

      Circa 1959, Indian Naval Ship Mysore receives a coded message at sea. On seeing it, the Captain summons his Second-in-Command and enters our much-decorated hero Commander Rustom Pavri (Akshay Kumar) wearing medals for participating in Op Vijay (1999) and Op Parakram (2002); that’s what I would call some ‘long-term vision’. From here, the movie goes from one faux-pas to the other. Director Tinu Suresh Desai’s attempt at cashing on the charisma of Akshay Kumar as a Naval Officer falters at the first step and is never really able to recover thereafter.

     Rustom is madly in love with his wife Cynthia (Ileana D’Cruz), but he has to go on a long sailing which is terminated prematurely and he returns to find that she is having an affair with his rich businessman friend Vikram Makhija (Arjan Bajwa). Our hero thinks out everything and kills Makhija in cold blood. A courtroom drama follows where the hero pleads ‘not guilty’ and decides to defend himself against a bright prosecution lawyer. With some help from a tabloid, is able to sway the public opinion and the jury to deliver a verdict in his favour.

     Vipul K Rawal’s script woven around the infamous Commander KM Nanavati case (which was responsible for the end of jury system in Indian courts) fails to captivate the viewers. First, it has been in the public domain for a long time and secondly, there have been two other Hindi movies on this subject in the past. Probably realising this, he has brought in another track of corruption in high value defence deals (which unfortunately is a reality) but the side track distracts the viewers from the main tracks which could have been very captivating given the circumstances in which the events took place. To make things worse, he uses this side track to try to justify Cynthia’s indiscretion and Rustom’s murder of his friend which was not only unnecessary but also muddle things up further needlessly lengthening the movie. In the end what we get is a mish-mash of a love-triangle, a murder mystery and corruption in high offices which everyone knows where it is heading.

    This being a period film, the director has taken great care to ensure that the characters are in the right getup. Alas, he did not do so for Naval uniforms, the way naval personnel interact with each other or the way operations are conducted. There are moments where the film appears to be dragging and in my opinion, it could have been wound up within 2 hours if not less. The saving grace are the cinematography, music and of course Akshay Kumar who looks dapper in the white uniform and carries it off with utmost grace.

My Verdict: Watch it only for Akshay Kumar or the glamour of Indian Navy.