Vishal Bharadwaj ambitiously mounts Rangoon but the execution of this Kangana Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor film never manages to match its intentions.

At 167 minutes, Rangoon isn’t only long but painful. And this isn’t the pain of love. And it doesn’t end in pleasure.

Rangoon is definitely not avoidable but it is certainly not a Vishal Bhardwaj masterpiece.

Rangoon has grandeur but is a lost cause thanks to its multiple threads. Kangana and Shahid, leave a mark with their characters but do not help the film rise above its inconsistencies.

While the actors give it their best shot, Rangoon just isn’t able to tell its story with consistency. The movie tries to pack in too many set pieces and ideas in one narrative. Its choice of keeping the love triangle with jealousy and sacrifice isn’t the most inspired piece of writing either. Rangoon looks like a beautiful picture but it offers very little soul to support its epic goals. 

RANGOON is an epic misfire and the movie has demonstrated the desperation of Bhardwaj in trying to please the gallery in the end and that is more alarming. Bhardwaj’s was ‘successful’ in his unique pail of dramatics seen in his re working of Shakespearean tragedies and remarkable brilliance in KAMINEY that was never designed to please the masses, this attitude placed him in the top ranks of serious helmers but in RANGOON I found that Bhardwaj lost in his junoon ( passion) to get the maximum.

There are reluctant bodyguards, sacrificing soldiers, national anthem being sung, atrocities on common folk, and a bridge on the river Kwai that should have been blown up by at least one warring side. The movie is so long you are too tired to call it names when it is over.

‘Rangoon’ is an abruptly colorful film, which works only due to Kangana Ranaut’s performance and a half-hearted engaging direction.

The film is long and that’s a major drawback. This one sure needed more finesse not only in the execution but also in the way it is written.