Bastar: The Naxal Story stars Adah Sharma, Yashpal Sharma, Shilpa Shukla, Raima Sen, Purnendu Bhattacharya and Vijay Krishna among others.
Adah Sharma starrer Bastar: The Naxal Story showed improved collection on Day 2 by amassing Rs 75 lakhs.
Adah Sharma’s second collaboration with Sudipto Sen’s Bastar: The Naxal Story was released on March 15. The film clashed with Sidharth Malhotra’s Yodha and hence opened to a slow start by amassing Rs 50 lakhs at the box office. However, on the second day of its run, the Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s produced film showed a slight growth on Saturday and brought the total collection to Rs 1.15 crores.
As per box office tracking website Sacnilk.com, on its opening day (Friday), the movie brought in ₹40 lakh. By its second day, according to preliminary estimates, the box office collections in India soared to ₹75 lakh. To date, the total earnings in India have reached ₹1.15 crore. The plot of the film revolves around the Naxalite movement in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, with Adah Sharma portraying an IPS officer leading the story.
Nearly a year after The Kerala Story, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Sudipto Sen and Adah Sharma have joined hands once again on a film. Titled Bastar – The Naxal Story, the film is reportedly based on the real-life incidents of Naxals in Chhattisgarh. Following the launch of its teaser, a section of the internet dubbed it as “a propaganda” for its political undertones.
In fact, the teaser of the film shows Neerja Mathur, an IPS officer waging a war against the Naxals, played by Adah, disparaging JNU and how the left, the liberal, the vampanthi and the pseudo-intellectual should be shot. And that has ruffled many feathers. In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Adah defends the projection of such politically loaded dialogues that led to dissent from a certain section.
She told us, “When you play a tough cop like Neeraja Mathur in Bastar, I want people to think that I portrayed her in the strongest, most fearless and powerful way. I want people to believe each word I’m saying in the film. When she says that 76 jawans were butchered and that she wants to gun them down, she’s saying it out of frustration because she saw the jawans being shot and chopped into pieces. I might not say it as Adah but Neerja would.”
According to News18 Showsha review of the film, “one of the major takeaways from Bastar: The Naxal Story are the performances by actors like Adah Sharma, Yashpal Sharma, Shilpa Shukla, Raima Sen, Purnendu Bhattacharya and others. Each of them have played their part well especially Adah Sharma and Vijay Krishna. The production quality of the film excels in every department, right from the action sequences to cinematography and VFX as well as locations. There is also a lot of emotional depth between Ratna and her son. The makers also succeed in capturing the apathy of tribal who often finds themselves stuck between police officers and insurgents, with pressure mounting from both sides. But overall, this Sudipto Sen’s directorial falls flat, mostly due to the film’s lack of ingenuity and structure towards the Naxalite insurgency in Bastar and a meandering narrative that has a little to offer except shock and gore.”
