The ticket: Wazir plays second fiddle to none

It’s remarkable how Farhan Akhtar holds his own against veteran Amitabh Bachchan in Wazir (he wasn’t even born when his father Javed Akhtar along with Salim Khan scripted the story of the angry young man way back in 1973 with the film Zanjeer, starring Bachchan Sr).

But somehow the marvel of having watched superior acting fete doesn’t elate you. For reasons best known to director Bejoy Nambiar, the story and screenplay penned by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi lack the expected intrigue, drama and penultimate grip. That’s a major disappointment coming from producer Vinod Chopra known for films like Parinda, 1942 — A Love Story, Mission Kashmir and the Munna Bhai series etc.

After watching the first half of Wazir, I heaved a sigh of relief that the year had begun well, after enduring the unpalatable Dilwale and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. As the opening big film of the year, Wazir was expected to bring succor to the sensibilities of the audience. Perhaps our expectations were too high. The movie opens with a four-minute long song Tere Bin by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal covering the coming together of ATS officer Daanish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) and Ruhana Ali (Aditi Rao Hydari) followed by wedding, child birth, a happy married life and a terribly tragic turn.