Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Lollivan 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.

daorestes Ok what i write? this movie could be a masterpiece but it couldn't. First half of the movie is excellent but ending is so typical ! I mean you arises a question then suddenly you changed the plot. so typical hindi film. you were talking about quota system, then suddenly moved to free coaching system ? how man, really how? totally disappointing. But I must say Mr. Amitabh and Mr. Bajpayee acted very well.

Biswajit Tripathy Aarakshan is a well made movie from Prakash Jha on the subject of reservation based on caste. Dr. Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan) is the Principal of a very well known college and his request for approval for reservation is rejected by standing committee of the institute he works for. So he resigns from his job. The new Principal Mithilesh Singh operates a parallel coaching institute. Story takes a different turn when Prabhakar Anand is thrown out from his home by Mithilesh Singh and he goes and stays in a Tabela and starts his own free coaching institute for everyone. His role has been borrowed from mathematician Anand from Patna who is running Super 30 and his coaching institute is named as Super Tabela rhyming with the Super 30 of Anand Kumar. The climax is very poor with entry of a Hema Malini whose only role is for just 5 minutes and story ends as if there was no issues at all. Bad acting & presence by Hema destroys the climax else the movie is well made. Saif, Amitabh & Deepika including Manoj Bajpayee have done justice to their role.Prakash Jha has written a very nice story with a very weak climax otherwise which the story is much better. Sachin's cinematography and Shankar's music makes it a memorable experience. A must watch for everyone.

saish746 Let me make it clear, Aarakshan is not about reservation or caste feuds but its more about the existence of two coaching centers although based out of different ideologies. The circumstantial controversies were false and farce. Prakash Jha failed to raise the social issues like he did it before in Damul, Mrityudand, Gangajal or Apaharan . The title is misleading and the biggest disappointment. One may feel cheated , expecting the big battle of Indian caste system and reservation of SC/ST/OBC. One may expect some great screenplay of both sides but the movie and Jha falters completely and is in lack of words when asked whose side the protagonist is? The film opens very poorly in an interview room where the questions are asked about the mother who is maid in a sarcastic way by so called high castes interviewer. It was so unreal that the mood was set to be not in sync with the director's view. The honor was lost with the dialog of Tehzeeb. Within the 10 minutes of beginning you were bombarded with two useless songs, defying the mood further. Jha was never good with songs earlier and still he is not. All the characters were introduced slowly without a clear explanation. There were some good exchange of words to arouse the heat but it all fell flat on the ground like a fallen ash. It explains that even a good topic can be worthless without the good narration and script. The Film looses plot of reservation and started churning the illogical fight between two coaching centers. Definitely the second plot was based of Anand's Super-30 which churns IITians from the poorest family of Bihar with 100% success rate. Even Prakash Jha inspired the name of lead protagonist as Prabhakar Anand , played by Amitabh Bachchan. But in real Mr Anand didn't face any competition from any commercial coaching institutes neither from any College nor politicians. The characters were not sketched clearly and lacked commitments.Deepika Padukone was too unreal for city like Bhopal where she was seen moving around with a Dalit Saif, hand in hand wearing designer salwars. Saif role was too short for any comment. His UK migration and abrupt end of his Phd was never explained. The mustache looked good on him. Praetik Babbar failed again with his way of mouthing dialogues. He has lost confidence and that shows that why he was not at all liked. Manoj Bajpayi was a caricature with a funny wig. The last 15 minutes of the movie, he literally lost it all. The strong character was turned into a caricature. Amitabh Bachchan had nothing new to offer, he played the extension of his role from Mohabbatein. His wardrobe was changed with his voluntarily retirement in a drastic manner and his only saving was a house which was given on rent to provide a platform for this circus. Overall movie has only few scenes which touched the right cord, when a lost daughter comes back to home and hugs her father saying sorry and confessing that she is hungry was brilliant coming out of jha's brilliant past. The whole plot of STM college and KK coaching center was so unreal as if only these two sources of education exits in a city like Bhopal. Where you will find and education minister playing all sort of smaller games. The audiences were hoping something big.The film also lacks historical correctness and chronographical sequences. This issue based movie changed its issue amidst of the movie and became a thudddddd....

Chrysanthepop After the lacklustre but financially successful 'Rajneeti', director Prakash Jha seems to have gone into political flick mode. His 'Aarakshan', while it has some interesting moments, remains flawed especially in terms of execution. The concept of the film may be intriguing and it does attempt to tackle with the corrupt education system in India which has rarely been depicted in Hindi cinema. The main problem is that 'Aarakshan' tends to get very preachy and melodramatic at times, to the point that it ruins sequences that required more subtlety. Moreover the songs weren't necessary at all. The best parts of 'Aarakshan' are the sequences between Manoj Bajpai and Amitabh Bachchan. The scenes that take place after Prabhakar resigns and Mithilesh's attempts to destroy him stand out. Needless to say both Bajpai and Bachchan are spellbinding. Saif Ali Khan is miscast as he looks too old for the part. Prateik Babbar fails to impress. Tanvi Azmi is good. Deepika Padukone lacks spontaneity and she shouldn't be given dialogues in English.Overall, 'Aarakshan' introduces the corruption within the education system. Jha doesn't do a terrible job with it but perhaps a more skilled director would have made something more convincing.