There’s a lovely scene in which Raj Kapoor (an amusing casting decision with a requisitely slim, fair but rather uncharismatic young chap playing the showman) books the entire lot of the industry’s group dancers for an ambitious song sequence - one assumes this was for Awara which released in 1951, the same year as Albela and Guru Dutt’s Baazi - leaving Bhagwan minus any background dancers one night before picturising his iconic Shola Jo Bhadke… number. The film gathers momentum and atmosphere considerably post-interval when the focus is on the making of Bhagwan’s magnum opus, Albela. Given the era’s exaggerated expressions, Desai could easily have slipped into gimmicky territory, but he isn’t OTT, caricature-like or plain annoying, even for a second. The actor goes beyond his physical resemblance to Bhagwan and owns the film, sailing through with easy charm, charismatic screen presence, bulging eyeballs and a delightful Cheshire grin. In the absence of any emotional connect with the story, Desai steps in to save the day. Sartendel and his co-writer Amol Shetge pen some crowd-pleasing one liners - ‘If you don’t dream above your layaki/aukaad, why dream at all?’ - which help in building the underdog narrative, but those rare dramatic moments stand out awkwardly in the choppy screenplay. His chance meeting with film buff Baburao Pehelwan at an akhada sparking an interest in acting in dodgy action films, beginning with the role of a hunchback in Bewafa Aashiq, is quickly dispensed with.
The story lurches ahead with fast-moving, disjointed sequences like that one where Bhagwan leaves home to work with a paanwaala in Central Mumbai, meets a Muslim girl and falls in love only to be told by her to go back home and make something of himself. The film opens in the 1930s with a young Bhagwan (Mangesh Desai) shouting Gandhian slogans and enduring his father’s taunts for reasons that aren’t completely explained.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers have been saddled with little research material, and they don’t overcome that handicap.