When the hottest stars of Indifilms are roped in to do the same old shit, you get a film called YUVA

Mani Ratnam is respected in the Indifilm industry. Stars vie with each other to do his films. He has the hottest of music directors doing music for him. The best of cinematographers are at his beck and call. He has no problem with funds. He announces a film and financiers make a beeline to his office with ready cash.

There are very few filmmakers as advantaged as him? Yet what he delivers is the same old recycled and repackaged shit.

He suffers from certain sickness. He looks at Indian situation through the prism of Hollywood films. He neither seeks to educate himself about this country nor has any idea of what is happening at the ground level.

Yuva is a film about false characterizations, some interesting romantic moments, typical Maramari, and a whole lot of bullshit offered to the kids among the viewers as some kind of serious political content. It trivializes the politics of our country in general, and student politics in particular. Certainly everyone who was involved in the making of this film has had very little knowledge of or involvement with campus politics. These guys must have been self-centered students, spending their time in making girl friends in the campus, and keeping away from the serious, complex, and intense business of political idealism and action. However, when it comes to film making they invariably introduce political elements in their stories? Why do they do it? For respectability?
 

Will 'Yuva' bring respectability to Mani Ratnam? Can Govinda and Dharmendra be ever considered the chief ideologues and political advisors of their respective political parties? Mani Ratnam suffers from the complex that he has a good understanding of socio-political-cultural scene in India and he is competent enough to give his cinematic comments on the issues involved. However, he betrays his rank ignorance by making films like 'Dil Se' and 'Yuva'? 'Roja' and 'Bombay' too, in many ways, fall into this category.

Let us talk about his characterizations in Yuva. It is a story of three young men - a goon who gets easily manipulated by a politician, a smart alec Romeo who looks to the US for his personal redemption, and a student leader in designer jeans and jacket. They also have their women to sing and dance around with. They represent stereotypes of the youth of today, going in three different directions. Ratnam's message is loud and clear. They should better be getting into politics to fight Kurta Dhoti wearing stereotypical politicians and scum bags who should be replaced by clean shaven, good looking guys in designer jeans and jackets. This is the idea of designer revolution Ratnam has been nursing in his fertile brain. Ha!

As far as performances are concerned, none impresses except Vivek Oberoi and Kareena Kapoor. Their romantic track is the saving grace of the film. It is well written, well shot, and well enacted. The scene in the train toilet was redundant though. Someone said that Yuva might do to Abhishek, what Zanjeer did to Amitabh. It won't happen. This actor is being casted for his looks in films after films. He has done a lot of 'Maramari' roles in his recent releases, in typical Deewar style. He copies Bachhan. That is his big limitation. Why does he want to become a clone of his celebrated father? The angry young man characterization can only work when the director works hard with Abhishek. Mani Ratnam has not. He has exploited his looks as much as he could. He did not even correct the obvious flaws in Abhishek's performance. He may not have noticed them. The countless 'fight' sequences were anything but convincing. The one that was filmed on the new Howrah bridge was bizarre. Was the director trying to turn Abhishek into a terminator here who cannot die even if he comes under a road roller? Ajay Devgan is his usual self, mouthing dialogues in his usual style, exposing his ugly teeth in the process. There is nothing much to write home about his work.

Girls are OK. This is the second Rani Mukerjee portrayal of a Bengali woman, after 'Hey Ram', in a film directed by a South Indian. She is doing more or less the same thing what she did in 'Hey Ram'. Half of the time you have Abhishek climbing over her, and both playing hide and seek in bed, her Saree being taken off or her cheeks being sqeezed brutally. What is going on here? The guys in South certainly have some fixation about this dusky little thing and what she can do in bed. Why do they always want to see her in bed with the hero, biting his ear lobes? What the hell? She was biting Shahrukh's ear lobes too in Chalte Chalte. This is a new kind of typecasting. Indifilm producers are real jokers. One is sure that the poor thing will have to do a lot of 'ear lobe nibbling and biting' in all her films, till she is forced to retire. Isha Deol is fine. She is handled very carefully. She has been given right looks for the film. 

The screenplay fails to work because it lacks conviction. A synthetic attempt has been made to make the story look different by manipulating the narrative, by breaking its linear progression. Since it is merely a sleight of hand, it fails to work. It is too obvious a trick, copied straight from Hollywood films of recent times. It unnecessarily confuses the audience. The dialogues reflect 'smartassedness' and 'naive' political thinking of ignorant dialogue writers. The original idea must have been to make the dialogues flow in a normal and natural way. How can it be possible when you are also trying to insert half baked faltu fundas of your own every now and then? Ratnam must get rid of these Fundoo, and fucked up writers around him otherwise he will not be able to come out of the rut of bad political films like 'Dil Se' and 'Yuva'.

And why was it so difficult to decipher the dialogues and also the lyrics of the song? Was it some technical flaw? The writer was watching the film in a state of art cinema hall.

Should you watch the film? Probably yes, for Kareena and Vivek track.
Visit the following link as well:-
Yuva's Review by Vikram Kapadia