Main Atal Hoon

Rishi Virmani and Ravi Jadhav's screenplay, however, fails to do justice. The writers do not delve into the episodes and briefly touch upon them before going ahead with the story. As a result, one doesn’t feel connected with the film. Rishi Virmani and Ravi Jadhav's dialogues are sharp but not as impactful as intended. Ravi Jadhav's direction is not up to the mark. To give credit where it's due, he has got the technical aspects right. The film has a big-screen appeal and looks grand in every way. A few scenes stand out like Atal’s love affair with Rajkumari (Ekta Kaul), Atal’s first speech in Lok Sabha and his subsequent meeting with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Haresh Khatri), Atal forming a bond with a schoolgirl, the Pokhran test etc.

So enamoured is the film with its primary subject that all other figures within its own party who rose to prominence around that time are turned into ciphers: Lal Krishna Advani ( Raja Sevak) is the most unfairly dealt with, becoming ‘the friend’ who introduces the hard-working Vajpayee to the magic of cinema, and little else; the actors playing Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan barely get a look-in, as Vajpayee’s highlights — the nuclear bomb, the Lahore bus, and the Kargil war — get maximum play. Atal’s relationship with Rajkumari and her family, and the menage they created, is so sanitised– being turned into more his duty, than passion– that you cannot take it seriously, even if Kaul is quite lovely, leaving quite an impact. What we are left with is Tripathi, who nails Vajpayee’s characteristic neck-shake and flinging-of-the-hands, while orating in and out of Parliament.