Review of Vijeta

Vijeta (1996)
8/10
Rare Sanjay Dutt movie
19 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Sanjay Dutt was arrested after the super success of Khalnayak for keeping weapons in his house. During this time, several Sanjay Dutt films were on hold and some weren't even completed. Films like Namak came and failed miserably and most people(including me) thought that Sanjay Dutt had no good movies between 1994 and 1997 but boy was I surprised when I came across this rare Sanjay Dutt film which looked unpolished but was so worth it.

Vijeta(1996) released and flopped at the box office but the film was good and most of the movie was entertaining. The film started in 1990 and finally released unfinished in 1996. However, the shocking part was that the only unfinished part of the film was the climax which was abrupt.

The film starts of well with Alok Nath and his family of advocates and the film holds well through most of the first half. The romance is side lined and this is one of the best things about the film. The heroine is shown as a tough cop and this makes this film extremely unique(the film probably flopped because people couldn't accept Raveena as a cop). The second half is even better and despite the predictability, the action scenes stand out and the dialogues get better. Each action scene is different and Amrish Puri's character changes the film because of some plot twists and this is where the predictability fades away. The film's only problem is the villain who is shown as a joker.

Direction by K Murlimohan Rao is surprisingly good, he handles the first half well and focuses more on the main story. The dialogues are well written with and there are several moments where the movie makes you laugh out loud because of hilarious dialogues. It was so funny when Alok Nath was getting threatened by Paresh Rawal and suddenly Sanjay Dutt takes the phone and says "kyun pagal kutte ki tara bhok ra hai". The court room scenes are good but it is the confrontations amongst Sanjay and each of the bad guys which stand out the most.

Sanjay Dutt is good and surprisingly, his hairstyle doesn't change, his mullet is adorable and his expressions are good. In my opinion, Dutt's best hairstyle was the mullet mane from the 90s. Raveena Tandon is brilliant as the cop and she steals the show. I have never seen Raveena play a cop and she is good. Amrish Puri is good and he is the only villain who doesn't disappoint for the most part. Paresh Rawal disappoints big time with his monotonous acting and this was his first weak villain performance. The small villains like Deep Dhillion do a good job but their roles are short. The rest provide good support.

Music is good mainly because of the brilliant Abhijeet song Sherry Main Ho Gaya Deewana. The rest of the songs are good but this one stands out the most and Abhijeet should've received an award for this one. Action is good and the stunts aren't unrealistic, Raveena's stunts are pretty good too.

On the whole, Vijeta(earlier titled Mera Kartavya)is a good movie and Sanjay Dutt's only good movie during his jail term. It is a rare Sanjay Dutt movie which stands out amongst all his other crass movies like Namak, Zamane Se Kya Darna, Insaaf Apne Lahoo Se, and Jai Vikraanta.
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