Halla Bol: Truth prevails

Halla Bol is like an awakening call to the conscience that touches a sensitive social issue.

The film is dramatic and issue-based, which turns out well for an expected storyline. Ashfaque or Sameer Khan, played well by Ajay Devgan, is a big movie star who has come up the hard way and does not want to get into the controversy of a murder he has witnessed.

Inspired by the Jessica Lall murder case in New Delhi, the story tackles the sensitive nature of suppression of truth by people for convenience.

The cliché of the political and big business nexus trying to crush witnesses in order to save their kin is overdone. The film does try to raise the conscience of the audience to speak out against crime, but for this, the antagonists needed to be more than caricatures. However, the film does show that speaking out is the only way one can make a difference.

Bitten by his conscience, Sameer identifies the murderers and takes on the wrath of the country's mighty law-benders.

The film shows how the media manipulates the truth and how our society is led by its perceptions. Sameer's wife, played by Vidya Balan, has four scenes and three dialogues.

However, the real performance comes from veteran actor Pankaj Kapur, who plays Siddhu, a dacoit turned street theatre artist (he taught Ashfaque how to be an actor).

His is the moral and ethical voice in the film, raising awareness among the masses by conducting street plays, a long standing tradition of fighting for justice and overcoming suppression, social worker Safdar Hashmi being a shining example.

With hidden layers of expression, the film celebrates their daring convictions.

Raj Kumar Santoshi is one of India's finest filmmakers and has a penchant for making high voltage, socially relevant, dramas. His Legend of Bhagat Singh is a fine example of the biography of a freedom fighter turned into celluloid.

In Halla Bol he has given a well meaning message. So go, see it.

The writer is creative and Programming head, zee tv middle east