Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

manish At the television telecast of 1989 Filmfare Awards recording(which we saw on Doordarshan in December 1990,when our schools were closed during Ramjanambhoomi issue) I saw a new face who got a lot of acclaim that night.The spectacled man was in the middle of acclaim cause his movie stood tall amongst the year blockbusters-Maine Pyaar Kiya,Ram Lakhan ,Tridev and criticically acclaimed Eeshwar.The film was Parinda and the man was its producer director-Vidhu Vinod Chopra.Parinda won many awards that night and Vinod Chopra became the critics favourite for his brilliant follow up to his earlier superb thriller Khamosh.Somehow I didn't take the acclaim to Parinda favourably as I thought that Amitabh Bachchan starrer Main Azaad Hoon deserved many awards except the one it got for Javed Akhtar for best dialogues.1989 was arguably one of the worst years for Amitabh Bachchan as an actor.He got 2 of his worst big budget flops in the form of Manmohan Desai produced Toofan and Prakash Mehra directed Jaadugar.After these colossal disasters Tinnu Anand's brilliant Main Azaad Hoon also could not hit the bull's eye at box office.However ,when it didn't won many awards also I was terribly disillusioned.At that time I thought that It would be a great casting in case Vinod Chopra makes a film with Big B in the lead. Almost 2 decades later in the form of Eklavya my 18 year old dream and Vinod Chopra's 30 year old dream of directing Amitabh Bachchan finally comes true but the film falls way short of expectations.Eklavya(Amitabh Bachchan) is the royal guard of this small kingdom in Rajasthan.Although it is the modern era still the king Rana (Boman Irani) lives in a fort with his ailing wife the Maharani(Sharmila Tagore).The couple has a mentally challenged daughter(Raima Sen).The maharani writes letters to her son informing him about the her state.As fate would have it the queen dies and the Prince(Saif Ali Khan) returns from England to the kingdom.The Rana is a wicked character and his wickedness is used suitably by his evil brother Jyoti Vardhan Singh(Jackie Shroff) and his son Yash Vardhan Singh(Jimmy Shergill).The trio hates Eklavya but Eklavya has a loyal follower in the form of DCP Chouhan(Sanjay Dutt).Prince is heart broken and seeks refuge in Eklavya,who is a fatherly figure to him.Prince falls in love with a village gal(Vidya Balan).Rana orders Jyoti and Yash to murder Eklavya but they in turn end up killing Rana.Eklavya is angered over this and vows vengeance.He kills both Jyoti and Yash and surrenders before Prince but DCP Chouhan saves Eklavya.The Prince marries the village gal and lives happily with Eklavya and his mentally challenged sister. The story of the film has some twists as well which I didn't want to mention as they would have been spoilers.The story of Eklavya is not an amazing story but then with a decent screenplay it would have been a tight script.This is where Eklavya falters badly.Vinod Chopra has openly said that he worked on the script for 5 long years.However after analyisng the flimsy screenplay we hope that Vinod doesn't take the same amount of time for his next film.Initially Vinod had titled the film Yagna. Vinod Chopra had plans of making Yagna several years ago in 1993 when he wanted Amitabh to come out of his self imposed exile.At that time the film was supposed to star Amitabh Bachchan and Nana Patekar.After some years I read that Nana Patekar was directing Yagna but soon the news died.However few years back Chopra eventually started his dream project with Big B in the lead and titled it Yagna.I am not sure if this Yagna was the same Yagna he wanted to make in 1993 but he shot the promo of Yagna and screened it 2 years ago alongwith the promo of MunnaBhai 2nd Innings in the theatres which showed his produced Parineeta.Eventually the name Munna Bhai 2nd Innings was changed to Lage Raho MunnaBhai and Yagna became Eklavya.The dialogues of the film are also plain ordinary and doesn't strike a chord.The editing could have been better.Eklavya must be shortest big budget saga.Its running time is just 1 hours 50 minues but unfortunately even then the editing and screenplay is not strong enough to hold one's attention for that duration.The first half literally drags but things improve towards the interval.the second half is better but the tame ending and the pale comparisons with the mythological Eklavya of Mahabharata reduces its effect. The music by Shantanu Moitra has only one song "Chanda Re" which is melodious.

Manoj Ransing Eklavya certainly does not do justice to the creation with such great actors of current era. The problem is lack of entertainment, which is consistently absent in failed movies of VV Chopra '1947 – A love story', 'Mission Kashmir', 'Parineeta'. May be this is the reason these movies do not do any good on box office. But still it is hard to say that the movies were bad. These movies provide a very less entertainment. Eklavya too lacks entertainment. Moreover it fails to take best out of the actors. It also does not make a clear picture of what the director wants to convey. I guess introduction of unnecessary characters has killed the main theme. The characters of Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani and Vidya Balan has very limited role which do not do any justice to the acting skills of these good actors.The movie is really good for the eyes. One thing in which VV Chopra has scored point is the environment making. The sketch of rural India is very effective. The big palace, its surrounding, the entire town and also the dessert fits perfectly to the theme, and there is no issue there. The music is also matching with this environment and soothing to the ear. All the actors have done a good job. You can not think any other person in the role of Eklavya other than Amitabh Bachhan. This man do not need dialogs to talk. Saif has also given full justice to his character. Audience can get his emotions and can find the battle he is playing with himself, not knowing what decision is right or wrong. Jackey Shroff and Jim Shergill have done decent in their negative characters. Others though have very limited roles has done their best and fits the characters that they have done. The unrealistic and larger than life picture of main character is another weak point. The scene where Amitabh shows his aiming and concentration skills was unnecessary, and takes the movie on the fairy tale path. Not only this, but again many other scenes should have been shortened in length. This is what makes the movie boring. I feel that if VV looks at his flop films, he himself will understand the problem. The movie is more than the main path Bollywood movie, takes the path of the art movie. So it dangles in between this, and at the end, ends nowhere.

hkb_singh The visuals, the characters, the mood and music all add up to a superlative entertaining experience. The photography and other technical elements without the cacophony that gets into all Bollywood movies makes this a cool experience. Very modern in technique and captures drama of royal living of kings of Rajasthan without the gimmickry of palace on wheels or the loud noise of festival of India. A must have DVD for all Hindi film buffs. All characters have been given equal opportunity to show their talents. Good luck to Eklavya! All actors have given performance that is expected from them. It is well balanced and does not have unnecessary cosmetic scenes that seem to be a staple of Hindi films. Perhaps that is the reason why it did not do so well at the box office. It must not be an accident that Amitabh Bacchan gets to play the lead role. It will be a befitting award for the great actor now approaching the sunset of his acting years.

momo-mirza Eklavya: The Royal Guard is certainly getting a lot of mixed reviews. Some people love it, others hate it and even more others don't know what to make of it. This is probably because the film has a lot of potential in its storyline, its cast, and its setting. My problem with it is that it doesn't live up to its entire potential.In the director's haste to make the movie short, it actually takes away from "what could have been". There is not enough background information and display of the relationships between the characters. There are also some boring scenes and some parts become annoyingly repetitive. The best part about this movie is the acting. Amitabh and Saif especially show to the world once again why they are such great actors. The cinematography is also fantastic.Again, the potential for this story is so much more than what is displayed. Nonetheless it is worth watching for some of the VERY gripping scenes. These few scenes make the movie what it is. If the whole movie was compiled with the same conviction that is in these scenes it would be good enough for an Oscar nomination! (You will know what scenes they are once you watch the film.)