Thackeray

Sadly there is very little focus on his children or even his impact as an artist. The timeline of Thackeray is conveniently engineered to delete the unflattering, the sensitive and the problematic mandate.

Between Thackeray's followers who will rationalise everything about him and find the film charismatic and the detractors who will find it unconvincing and abhorrent, lies a hagiography in continuum.

Almost every moment in the movie is a death of irony, the biggest of them being that Nawazuddin Siddiqui, an outsider on both counts of community and religion, plays Balasaheb Thackeray.

Thackeray is a warts-and-none propaganda film about a man who peddled hate and keenly fostered a sense of otherness.

As provocative as the politics it celebrates, Thackeray is a film that is best left alone.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Thackeray and one can very well say it's the role of his life till date.

This is either an oblivious or blatantly self-aware film, a work not of propaganda as much as it is a work of pride, celebrating a legacy of violence.

Given how obsessed we are with politics, we deserve better films about it and the men who shape our nation.

In the process of exploring the rise of the demagogue, the film makes his thuggery and rank bigotry seem normal. Thackeray proudly resurrects the Sena's violent campaign...

Perhaps a more seasoned writer could have fleshed out Thackeray's character and eccentricities a lot better. But its Nawaz's nonchalant performance that overshadows the flaws and leaves a lasting impact.