If peeing on their Persian carpets could awaken a corrupt politician’s conscience, the world would be a different place. Yet that is exactly what our hero does, in the name of halla bol. Also spurts off strange dialogue peppered with the choicest English abuses. What’s happening here? No one knows. Least of all the filmmakers. Apart from the inspiring rabblerousing title, there’s nothing in the film that gives you food for thought.

A small-town theatre actor Ashfaque (Ajay Devgan) comes to Mumbai to make it as a hero, and does so in a flash. Thereafter the simpleton becomes the superstar Sameer Khan; a fact reiterated till it’s coming out of your ears: he wins an award, then another, endorses Bhaluchap kala dant manjan, wins another award, releases his biography, signs autographs, wins another award and it goes on and on, as you yawn and yawn. Khan is no more the small town lad; he’s a perpetual liar who backstabs upcoming competition, and enjoys his success to sleep with wannabe heroines. But deep, deep beneath he’s a nice guy, you see. So when he sees a girl being shot at in a nightclub by two young men whose advances she had resisted, he feels truly blue. But like the others, refuses to do anything about it and lies to the police about being absent from the scene of crime. Eventually, his conscience gets the better of him and he decides to follow the path of truth.

As usual, screaming reporters are all over the place in order to establish the media’s role-play as catalyst towards justice (whatever he does makes it to the front page of national newspapers, really now!). There’s also a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur), who voices his protest against the ills of society through street theatre. Khan’s guru and well-wisher, firebrand Sidhu supports him fully. What next? The bad guys are after Khan and the film trails how he overcomes them. One of the ways is mentioned right at the beginning of this piece. The struggle for justice that could have actually made the film riveting is pushed to the last hour of the film, and is wrapped up so hurriedly, you might find yourself in a daze.

The film’s subject is an important one. Obviously inspired by the unfortunate murder of model Jessica Lal by two influential people, Halla Bol tries to get the message across, that we must all speak up. But because the film cannot make you feel for the characters, you don’t care what happens to them, and forget being inspired, it’s a struggle to be involved in the story even on a superficial level. For example, take a look at the film’s characters comprising all possible stereotypes – the upright leading man, his super-supportive wife who shrieks at the media saying “my husband has balls”, the scheming politician and the wailing parents.

What also pulls the film down a few notches is the archaic filmmaking style; not acceptable in today’s era of slick flicks. It’s no longer forgivable to make a technically weak film just because it touches upon an issue; I think films like Rang De Basanti, Munnabhai MBBS and Swades changed all that. Here, the film is dubbed, a real bummer, and dubbed in the old school style. Cinematography is unimaginative, editing lax, and background score bizarre. The music (Vanraj Bhatia) is subtle, with the qawwali More Haj Piya appearing and disappearing like an oasis.

Ajay Devgan gives an earnest, heartfelt performance – truly the highlight of the film. Vidya Balan as Sameer Khan’s wife is able and Pankaj Kapur steals the thunder ever so often. Darshan Jariwala, as the politician trying to get his murderous son off the hook, gives a good performance, even if slightly over-the-top. His cronies and coterie, all caricatures, are made up of complete non-actors. The remaining cast: a smattering of superb talent from the television world does very well.

We all know Rajkumar Santoshi as the incredibly bright and talented director of films like Damini , Ghayal, Pukar, Andaz Apna Apna and Lajja; so a product like this is obviously perplexing coming from him. Whether it is his attempt to dumb down and make the story more commercial or not, we’ll never know. But we can only hope for the original Santoshi to make a comeback with his forthcoming ambitious projects.

Though the topic of Halla Bol is pertinent and should be told, it just wouldn’t be right to recommend the film on that sole basis.