Manjunath: This one is for justice

Manjunath
Starring: Sasho Sattiysh Sarathy, Divya Dutta, Seema Biswas, Asif Basra, Yashpal Sharma
Rated: 6/10
Manjunath’s cold blooded killing is a blot on the nation’s conscience and a film on him — as other whistle blowers — was long time coming. The unassuming, slightly edgy but a brilliant student from IIM Lucknow, he was sent into the mad fields of Uttar Pradesh where he discovered the Rs 20,000 crore fuel mafia and dared to expose them. Of course, he was done to death, by a rogue petrol pump owner who was somewhat a friend but the cause for which Manjunath lost his life — unpunished corruption — needed a total recall which this film does with elan.
Stories of such brave soldiers of India are quite potent in themselves to need a cinematic push or licence for drama. Director Sandeep Varma has done well to realise that and has put a minimum of artistic licence into his venture and to great effect.
The flesh and blood of the film is Manjunath himself played brilliantly by Sasho Sarathy who managed to bring out the nuances of his complex character with such natural ease that you very often feel stumped. Though Divya Dutta as an IIM alumnus who fought actively to get justice to Manjunath has been dealt with a little shabbily, Seema Biswas as Manjunath’s mother sports moving poignance through and through.
The film, by and large, is simple and straight and needs to be seen. 
Source: Sunday Pioneer, 11 May, 2014 

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