Reachout's Review of "Hey Ram" 

Director: Kamal Haasan Music By : Ilayaraja Starring: Kamal Haasan, Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukharjee, Girish Karnad, Vasundhara Das. Also checkout the official website  http://www.HeyRamTheMovie.com

Kamal Haasan, the most versatile actor in India today, picks up direction for the second time in Hindi after "Chachi 420" and this time around he is out to prove his caliber as an ace director with a Midas touch. "Hey Ram" is a very bold, Rupees 25 crore attempt period film set against the background of Indian Independence. 

The movie starts at Mohenjodaro where Saket Ram(Kamal Haasan) and Amjad Khan(ShahRukh Khan) are great friends and then onwards moves to Calcutta where Saket Ram rejoins with his Bengali wife (Rani Mukharjee) .Then a tragedy happens which forces Saket Ram to almost wage a war against communalism and the ensuing emotions by  Kamal Haasan is seen to be believed  - a brilliant actor!.  Saket Ram then meets Abhyankar(Atul Kulkarni) , an Hindu extremist whose fiery speeches against Gandhiji as being the culprit for the woes of Hindus, drags him near to his ideology and eventually Saket Ram is out on a mission to kill Mahatma Gandhi. 

Meanwhile Saket Ram's parents get him married to a teenage girl Mythili brilliantly played by Vasundhara Das. Then onwards whether Saket Ram kills Gandhi or not is History.

'Hey Ram' is indeed an experimental film - live location , sound shot in the Vintage 40's location and the Hollywood type scripting standard does make this film stand out of the typical bollywood films. The Movie does appears a drag at times, thanks to Kamal Haasan's histrionics. And in some scenes Kamal Haasan does appear to be eccentric too. ShahRukhKhan is an absolute waste for this movie while RaniMukharjee eclipses even before she finishes kissing Kamal Haasan. It's music by Ilayaraja is quite ordinary while editing by Renuka Saluja is superb.

HeyRam is recommended for serious audience only. Those looking for out and out entertainment may please wait for a Govinda release shortly. HeyRam is festival stuff bound to bring quite a lot of awards all over.

                   - Maju Kuriakose

Reachout's Rating : ****