Sadak, a prequel to Sadak 2, released in 1991 was one of the biggest hits of the year. This Mahesh Bhatt directed love story of an insomniac Taxi Driver Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) and a prostitute Pooja (Pooja Bhatt), along with a menacing villain Maharani (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) is one which has a repeat value even today. The songs of Sadak are hummable even after 30 years and create a pleasant nostalgia.
Mahesh Bhatt marks his return to direction after almost 20 years with the sequel with Sadak 2, this time with his second daughter Aalia and Sanjay Dutt.
The Plot –
Movie starts with Aarya (Aalia) is daughter of an Industrialist (Jishu Sengupta), announcing that she is seeking revenge from Gyan Prakash, a self styled godman (Makarand Deshpande). Her stepmother Nandini (Priyanka Bose) is seen conspiring against her and she along with Gyan and his men is trying to declare her mentally ill.
Aarya escapes and meets Ravi Prakash (Sanjay Dutt),a travel services owner now, who plays his character from original Sadak, and has become suicidal post his wife Pooja’s (Pooja Bhatt) death. Aarya asks him to take her to Kailash as she had booked a taxi with his late wife few months ago. Ravi unwillingly after some emotional black mailing from Aarya agrees and they hit the road.
In the way they pickup Vishal/Munna (Aditya Roy Kapoor), who is Aarya’s boyfriend and Ravi somehow has his doubts about Vishal. On the way they encounter Gulshan Grover, who tries to kill Aarya and Vishal but Ravi saves them.
A parallel plot also mentions that Aarya has been fighting against the godmen and superstitions, with Vishal and trying to find any help that can get her nail Gyan Prakash, who she believes is the killer of her mother.
During the journey Ravi develops paternal feelings for Aarya and tries helping her out of this mess. How he helps and saves her forms the rest of the story.
The Hits –
Sanjay Dutt, the only link between the old and new Sadak is the only plus point is this otherwise weird film. He is likeable as soft spoken but devastated and suicidal Ravi. His scenes with Aalia are good and chemistry seems real.
Though Pooja Bhatt does not appear in the movie, few of her and Sanjay’s scenes and songs from old Sadak are the highlight of the film and make us feel nostalgic for a few minutes (infact, seconds).
The Misses –
The film misses on a lot of things and most important of it is plot. The plot has many loopholes, and oscillates between Aalia’s revenge and fights against godmen but no buildup is done on any of the points. Movie provides no context for anything happening and everything seems rushed.
Aditya Roy Kapoor as usual has hammed his way throughout the movie and so has Jishu (who usually is brilliant). Makarand Deshpande’s Gyan Prakash is a caricaturish version of Maharani, and just to make that obvious he appears in Saree in a scene unnecessarily.
The climax with Dutt chanting Ram Nam Satya Hai and fighting with goons (5-6 of them at max), is also weird and irritating.
Aalia who usually is usually a very convincing actress is not at her best and tries to do justice to a very weak script, and perishes in the attempt.
Standout Scenes –
Scene where Ravi drops Aarya at the factory – the conversation between them is a scene which is one of the better scenes in this otherwise sluggish movie, where we see a flash of Bhatt’s cinema, beautifully captures the emotions of the actors.
Our Take –
Overall, Sadak 2 had everything going for it – Sequel of a very successful film, had a star in Sanjay and powerhouse actor in Alia. It also had a supporting cast of good actors such as Jishu Sengupta and Makarand Deshpande.
Considering a director like Mahesh Bhatt at the helm of things, this film sounded like a winner on paper. But Sadak 2 disappoints on every front and emerges as a dated movie, which misses out on everything.
Bad script, bad performances and equally bad direction makes it a Sadak which is not worth travelling.
But, with all that negativity already around the movie, along with equally bad content, it still will be a profitable venture for the Bhatts – Thanks To Hotstar.
