Director: AR Murugadoss
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Amit Sadh
A young girl named Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) can neither tolerate violence against women nor stomach discrimination of any kind. After witnessing an acquaintance from Jodhpur being attacked by acid, Akira is made to learn Karate – that too at an age when other girls are busy learning Kathak. Once she grows up, her brother asks her to leave Jodhpur and shift to Mumbai to pursue higher studies where she finds herself being pitted against a few college students. Following a series of events, Akira soon finds herself caught up in a web of bureaucratic corruption involving Mumbai Police officials.
Sonakshi Sinha, who plays the titular role, does full justice to her name – which means graceful strength. She is a woman of few words but more actions; mainly punches. While she delivers a decent performance for the screen-time allotted to her, there could have been more facets to her character. Considering the fact that the whole movie was being promoted and being cashed on the term ‘female-oriented’ action-packed film, multiple layerings to Sonakshi’s character would have added weight to the story. Having said that, there are some scenes where less words turn out to be her strength. For instances, in a scene towards the end of the film – Sonakshi speaks to school children via sign language, but her thoughts and feelings during the act are intense.
Anurag Kashysap is hands down, a skilled actor. His performance as a cocaine-snorting tough cop is so impressive that you start loathing him; knowing that it’s only his reel life and not a real life job. Be it his wit, sarcasm or even his I-know-what-you’re-up-to look; he steals the thunder from almost everyone in the film. Saying that this film is backed only by Sonakshi’s performance will do injustice to Kashyap’s act. On the other hand, Konkona (Ramya) - as a pregnant police officer, striving hard to expose the truth - is subtle but bang on. She can pull off any character oozing the same amount of perfection and this makes her role pivotal.
Considering the fact that Akira is a remake of the popular south film Mouna Guru, the expectations were really high. Director AR Murugadoss, who has previously worked with Sonakshi in Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, knows how to pull the right strings. With a series of predictable twists and turns, he weaved this story. Despite the fact that some scenes were far too stretched to be real, the film still manages to keep you invested in the first half. The second half works almost like an extension of the first half – with the repetition of same kicks, punches and fights.
Nevertheless, it’s not a bad watch, in fact it makes for an interesting scoop, courtesy the perfect timing of varied elements in the film. From an educational institute to a mental asylum, different human emotions are put together in an organized, compelling format.
Go for it if action-driven cinema is your cup of tea. You might want to wreck your brains while trying to believe the extremes of some part of what is being depicted but then again, your love for action-packed sequences will keep you engrossed.
Rating: 2.5/5
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