3/10
A highly melodramatic and over the top masala film that does not belong to this era.
1 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
While watching this film it feels like time has moved backwards towards the 70's and 80's, because that was the time when these kind of movies were being made. While listening to the dialogues, the legendary movie Gunda (1998) came to my mind. Rhyming dialogues, an honest man's children avenging their father's death, mother remains in coma for the most part, miraculously returns to life one day and recognizes her husband's killer, a devotional song towards the end in which a lot of action takes place, this movie has it all. Satyameva Jayate 2 is a high on melodrama masala film that does not belong to this era.

The way Dadasaheb Balram Azad is talked about and praised in the film, one name that would definitely come to your mind would be Mahendra Bahubali. Balram Azad's introduction was clearly inspired by Rajamouli's Bãhubali: The Beginning (2015), except that you go into a mythological film with a different mindset and assumptions, so when characters talk like that it doesn't surprise you. But when characters from a movie set in a nearby timeline shout like that, it just feels bizarre.

As far as acting is concerned, quite clearly John Abraham works more on honing his body than his acting skills. He is decent in some scenes where he is required to be extremely serious, but falters miserably when he is required to be funny. There are certain scenes which required him to shout loudly, basically turn himself into Sunny Deol, but unfortunately his acting looks extremely forced in such scenes. John Abraham may have the strength of a Hulk but he certainly cannot talk like one.

After 17 years of break, Divya Khosla Kumar decided to return to acting with this film, a decision she shouldn't have taken. Divya is just terrible, in every scene her acting is unbearable to watch. However bizarre it may sound, but even Katrina Kaif manages to put up a better performance than this these days. Divya should stick to her task of producing movies, and if she wants to act then she should take some acting classes first. Having a pretty face should not be a good enough reason to cast yourself in a film.

Sahil Vaid and Anup Soni did not have a lot to do in the film, which is a shame considering the amount of talent both actors have. Sahil Vaid looked really good in the small bits of comedy he got to do in the film, directors and producers must pay attention to him because Sahil truly holds a lot of promise as an actor. Harsh Chhaya is a fantastic talent, but unfortunately his role wasn't fleshed out properly because they had to keep his character a secret, but by doing so the director just turned his role into an extended cameo.

Gautami Kapoor looked extremely beautiful and came across as the most believable actor among the star cast, especially in the flash back scenes. I would have loved to see her in the lead role instead of Divya Khosla. While watching Gautami, I just wondered as to why wasn't this woman offered more movie roles. She is so pretty and is acting with so much conviction, she should have been the lead of so many movies. It's still not late, movie makers should consider her for the female lead in movies that have middle aged actors. Instead of casting 20 year old actresses with 45-50 year old actors, why not cast Gautami Kapoor? Bollywood needs to wake up and write roles for middle aged actresses.

The story of the film is fairly simple with multiple subplots and twists falling out of nowhere. Half way into the film, all the villains have already been eliminated, so you can easily guess as to who is the main villain of the film. The screenplay has been written keeping in mind to include all the elements that constituted a 70's and 80's masala commercial entertainer, but it's still not enough to keep your interest intact. The climax is just lazy writing. The villain asks the two brothers to fight each other, because that's the only way they will die, after all both are superheroes, what can possibly hurt them? A hundred other things!

There is no doubt that there is an audience for these kind of films, and that's why they get made, but at least try to make it entertaining! Every once in a while we all want to watch a full on entertainment film, that has comedy, action, romance, catchy songs, so there is nothing wrong in making masala films, but they also need to be written well. Strictly speaking, Baahubali was also a commercial masala film, but it was massively entertaining. A world was created which was nowhere close to ours, but we all loved watching it. That quality is missing from Satyameva Jayate 2. If the producers wish to continue this series, since they have already made 2 films, apart from better writers and a more competent director, they should hire better actors and make them act as well. Giving three different roles to John Abraham, who barely qualifies to be an actor was not a good move at all.
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