Web Review: Sankalp is Too Contrived in Concept 

The series follows the Prakash Jha “tradition”: a good film followed by some mediocre ones. So far as my viewing his films down the years is concerned, I loved Mrityudand, Gangaajal and Raajneeti and did not much care for his other movies, though Chakravyuh and Aarakshan had their moments. So far as series are concerned, the first and third season of Aashram were great. But not the rest.

Sankalp, with its final 10^th and overlong (like most of the series) episode of Punar Sankalp (A resolution once more) definitely hints at a second, more violent and vengeance-driven season. But with its even more artificial and labored mix of education and politics, the series only gratifies in parts.

One simply cannot understand why Ma’at Saab (Nana Patekar), as he is called (his real name is Kanhaiya Lal), needs to force kids away from their homes and families, rename them and cast some kind of a spell on them so that they do not want to return to their kin! In this matter, the man can go to any extent. And he is still revered and respected because all the students of his traditional gurukul have become big shots, an amazingly high number being in the law-and-order and bureaucracy departments.

Kanhaiya Lal’s ambition is mainly to control the government in Delhi. His opposition is the team of Chief Minister Prashant Singh (Sanjay Kapoor, thankfully in control), and his strategist Waqar (Neeraj Kabi), who have played (very) dirty with Ma’at Saab and his late friend Jaideep (Ashish Mathur) from college politics times (we are in Bihar, see?). Jaideep’s widow, Suhasini (Meghna Malik) is now Ma’at Saab’s right hand.

Things come to a showdown when it seems that one of his favorite students, Aditya (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) earns his displeasure and is as good as removed from the gurukul by a ritual that treats him as ‘dead’. Aditya joins forces with Prashant and Waqar, who indulge in criminal activities including currency transactions for election purposes. If the duo has thugs and criminals involved, so does Ma’at Saab have his own gray forces. 

Aditya’s colleagues, DCP Parveen Sheikh (Kubbra Sait) and Vasu (Saurabh Goyal), both proteges of Ma’at Saab, also get involved in the actions, countermoves, betrayals, deaths and everything else. The last episode is crackerjack at an hour-plus length, and has a completely unexpected outcome, and had the story not been so contrived at the bass, would have made for a great impact with its tragic overtones.

Advait Nemlekar’s background score seems surprisingly (for him) overdone but the rest of the technical side is well-done. Jha, as director, handles sequences and situations well, but with the core concepts being quite wonky, the takeaway is disappointing.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub is outstanding, ditto Neeraj Kabi as Waqar. Kubbra Sait is effective and special mention is due for Kranti Prakash Jha as Kasturi and for Jitendra Rai as Tarkeshwar. Meghna Malik fits the bill and so do the rest of the actors.

But, as is obvious with so many films down the years, any film with Nana Patekar as protagonist has the veteran actor overshadowing all with his sheer power. Menacing and tender-hearted in turns, Patekar doles out yet another memorable essay in a long list of movies and shows that can only be recalled as “Patekar Powerhouses.” He makes this series eminently watchable even as you increasingly wonder on the unlimited and eminently avoidable inconsistencies as well as absurdities of this show.

Rating: ***

Amazon MX Player presents Jio Studios’ & PJP Productions’ Sankalp Produced by: Jyoti Deshpande & Dishaa Jha Directed by: Prakash Jha Written by: Reshu Nath, Prasad Kadam & Chandan Kumar Music: Advait Nemlekar Starring: Nana Patekar, Mohammed Zeeshaan Ayyub, Kubbra Sait, Neeraj Kabi, Meghna Malik, Sanjay Kapoor, Ashok Kumar Beniwal, Danish Iqbal, Bhagwan Tiwari, Saurabh Goyal, Roop Durgapal, Tushar Pandey, Sheen Das & others

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