In the end Wazir is moody and atmospheric, and gripping for a large part. What it needed was a tighter script with fewer holes.

There’s enough to watch in ‘Wazir’ despite its flaws. It reaffirms something we’ve always known: that there’s nothing to beat a plot-driven film (co-written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi). That the supreme importance in a thriller is to keep it going. And that strong performances are the pivot of any film: watching Akhtar and Bachchan joust and manoeuver around each other is this film’s high point.

It has competent moments, but is too generic to be memorable, and that’s a shame for it could so easily have been a winner.

As it stands, Wazir is the one thing a chess player can never afford to be: Obvious.

A story that uses chess quite literally as a game and as a metaphor, we’d have loved to see it check-mate us. We’d have loved to lose to the storyteller and have all our guesses proved wrong by the time the end credits rolled. But sadly, this game leaves a lot to be desired.  

Wazir is at best a one-time watch, if only for the academic interest of viewing Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar in the same film.

Worth one visit for sure for AB Sr’s superlative acting and some ceetee-worthy dialogue (why don’t we write like this anymore?). As a thrilling drama, it has some bite, but as a suspenseful tale, it lacks teeth.

Wazir is a missed opportunity. It is a story that could have been gripping but suffers from a bad treatment, thus leaving you disappointed. Farhan and Big B do their best to save this botched up plot but they can’t. So basically, it’s like the audiences will end up saying Check Mate to the makers.

WAZIR, despite boasting of some of the great performances, reasonably fails to leave the desired impact because of its convoluted script. At the box office, the film may just about appeal to a handful of the multiplex audiences who would want to get a taste of Bollywood entertainment in absence of any new film releases since past three weeks.

While using chess as a backdrop is quite an interesting idea, one wishes the writers and the director made good moves and clocked themselves too. Overall, the film is neatly shot (Sanu Varghese) and paced (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Abhijat Joshi). But that simply does not work its charms. The ‘leave your brains behind’ policy may work for this film; if you don’t question it, you may enjoy it! 

Wazir surprises us with a brilliant beginning and Amitabh Bachchan emoting with just his face and Farhan’s seething passions are near short of a miracle, you think. And then with the second half of tiresome explanations and almost laughable action sequences, the film simply freefalls into tediousness.

Watch the film only for the impressive performances of Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar. However, if you are looking for a good thriller, you might go disappointed!

This one is worthy of a single watch, but only for Akhtar, who is relentless and determined in his efforts to make this film work.

Wazir proves to show that actors are reduced to pawns if there’s no solid story backing them.

The flaws are glaring, and the pace, even for about 50 minutes post-interval, is too long and flaccid. The climax is remarkably tame and made so simplistically that it’s plain silly!