Ram Gopal Verma has got to be India’s best director. The emotions that he gets out of his audience by making them watch his films, are unlike what any other director can manage. Fear, anger and hatred are just a few amongst the wide array of feelings that the viewer experiences while watching Department. The “plot” revolves around the mafia in Mumbai, the police department, corrupt politicians, and the likes. Same old betrayal, bloodshed, encounters, nauseating romance and misuse of power makes this film an old product in even older packaging.
The performances are shabby, half hearted and downright irritating. The only saving grace is probably Amitabh Bachchan and even he too can do little to save a script which is destined for doom. Sanjay Dutt seems to have been forced into doing a role which should have been done by someone much younger and fitter. Rana Daggubati does slightly better than a mannequin; and the lesser that is spoken of Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh’s acting, the better. Madhu Shalini is probably the one woman who I never want to see in my life again. If there wasn’t enough idiocy in the movie by itself, she just had to do her bit to add to it.
The music is ordinary and the choreography is (if I may say so), quite shameful. One fails to see the reasoning behind making Ganesh Acharya dance in an item number. If I had to look at my daily dose of ugly flab, wouldn’t I rather save on money and peek in through my neighbour’s window, rather than go to the cinemas?
What does stand out in the movie though is the exceptional camerawork. It is exceptionally bad. Starting from shots which have been taken from inside a tea cup to shots taken from the actor’s crotch, the cinematography shall take you a long time to overcome. I must mention a shot in the middle which gave the viewers a very balanced view of Miss Shalini’s behind–which, by the way, isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Towards the end of the movie, I felt an extreme sense of relief, coupled with shame. Relief at the movie having finally having come to an end and shame at the falling standards of Bollywood. Save yourselves the time and money, and don’t bother looking at even the poster of this movie.
