Movie 'Youngistan" Review

                   

Unlike Prakash Jha's "Raajneeti", "Youngistaan" doesn't take itself too seriously. There is no attempt here to mythicize or demonize the politicians.

Think Rajiv Gandhi. Think Rahul...Jackky Bhagnani plays an amalgamation of many political dreams. Never mind if some of them turn into nightmares in real life (think Arvind Kejriwal). Cinema is about hope and redemption.

Jackky's Abhimanyu Kaul is the need of the hour. He is young, enterprising and modern in thought and ready to take on the political humbug headlong. He is also a considerate, generous boyfriend trying to make his somewhat-overbearing sometime-annoying life-mate understand the complexities of the responsibility suddenly thrust upon him.

                      

                                                           

Neha Sharma as his untameable girlfriend plays her character with intelligence and grace. This girl deserves more than what Hindi cinema has so far offered her. But it is the Farooque Sheikh as Bhagnani's quietly efficient personal assistant who brings a twinkle-eyed wisdom to the table.

Writer-director Syed Ahmad Afzal has told a story that seems destined to be put on screen. The politics of our disembodied democracy is sexily sketched. In this season of the Lok Sabha election, "Youngistaan" raises pertinent questions on the quality of leadership in our country. While it gets its political fundas right, the plot also accommodates the central romantic conflict into its structure.