Viruddh   Producer: AB Corp Ltd & Satyajeet Movies (P) Ltd. Director: Mahesh Manjrekar Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, John Abraham, Sanjay Dutt (special Appearance), Sachin Khedekar Music: Ajay-Atul Lyrics: Genre: Family Recommended Audience: General Film Released on: 22 July 2005 Reviewed by: Shruti Bhasin  - Rating: 7.5 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review

Dear Mr. Manjrekar,

I hesitated as I began watching Viruddh because in recent times you failed to impress me with nonsensical drivel such as Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ehsaas, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai, etc. As I began watching, I was instantly drawn to how you developed the simple protagonists into heroes. No they are not your supermodel type stars, but they added more value and quality to your story.

Speaking of story, you took Amitabh Bachchan and made him evolve even further as an actor. Not only that, you brought back Sharmila Tagore, in a role tailor-made for her. And to top it off, you got John Abraham in a smaller but effective role.

You made characters such as Vidhyadar (Amitabh) and Sumitra (Sharmila) seem more real than life. You took a simple story and turned it into a irresistable piece of storytelling. Their only son Amar (John) is their life, their world. For these parents, life is uncomplicated and simple, until things are turned upside down. The first half builds the parent-child relationship while the drama unfolds in the second half. Amar sees a crime and gets killed due to it, however, his name is tarnished, which his parents fight to prove wrong. The rest of the movie looks at the elderly parents, who’ve remained quiet and subdued, fight against the system to prove the innocence of their child. Forget the fact that in old age, they are left alone, its that they still have the strength to overcome all odds.

Mr. Manjrekar, even in darkness, these two characters bring light to one another. Their love for each other and their son takes them to depths unknown, which makes us think, what parents really do for their children. Amitabh and Sharmila have excellent chemistry together.

In this case, you kept the movie strong with a background score to show hope to the characters and not bombarding the viewers with mindless songs every 5 minutes. Not since Vaastav, Astitva (your best work) and Kurukhshetra have I enjoyed one of your films more. You have regained my trust as a filmmaker. You gave good roles to

Sanjay Dutt, Shivaji Satam, Sachin Khedekar, and other supporting characters to move the film along. A fresh face, Anusha Dandekar, was a good choice as Amar’s love interest. John Abraham keeps improving as an actor, he suits the role of Amar perfectly. Finally, thanks for bringing Sharmila Tagore to the big screen, hopefully she comes back to films more often. As for

Amitabh Bachchan, there is nobody else who could’ve been directed better in this role.

Overall, you’ve made a film worth recommending to all families to watch together. Kudos!

Sincerely,

Shruti Bhasin