‘Azaad’ (2025) Movie Review - Black Beauty Cries For Help

Azaad is written by Abhishek Kapoor, Suresh Nair, and Ritesh Shah. One of the writers may have drawn inspiration from the 1955 Azaad, which tells a love story between a woman and a bandit. Hence, the inclusion of a woman falling in love with a bandit in the new version. Another writer could have drawn inspiration from the 1978 Azaad, which features an arrogant princess who falls in love with a poor man; this is reflected in the new Azaad through a rich landlord's daughter who initially behaves arrogantly toward a poor stable boy but ultimately falls in love with him. The third writer - this could very well be Kapoor - then must have combined the two plots and thrown in a horse for more spice (was he reading Black Beauty while writing Azaad's script?). The movie serves as a debut vehicle for Rasha Thadani, Raveena Tandon's daughter, and Aaman Devgan, Ajay Devgn's nephew. Nepo-baby projects are all about handing the reins to a family member. In Azaad, Devgn takes this concept to a "cinematic level." Daaku Vikram Singh's (Devgn) demise in the film acts as some sort of "passing the baton" moment. The character gives Govind the responsibility of his horse - the titular animal - and the actor leaves Devgan with more screen time to strut around like a hero. The world of Azaad is a patriarchal one. A father orders his daughter to apologize to his brother when she hurts his male ego. The patriarchal effect can also be witnessed outside the fictional realm. While Devgan dances and fights and stokes the flames of comedy and drama by bonding with an animal, Thadani is reduced to a sexy, innocent doll whose job is to care for or fight for the male character.

With a lean physique and a face that perpetually seeks the right emotional expression, nothing about Devgan leaves you awestruck. His Govind is supposed to be a ray of hope - a savior - but it seems as if someone told him to act like a clown in a circus. Govind doesn't display heroic shades - he is always viewed as a comic figure. This is why when he turns into a fighter for the oppressed individuals, he looks as ordinary as a background actor. Either Kapoor doesn't know how to shoot his hero in a massy way, or his hero is only capable of giving a bad performance. A character sees Govind on Azaad and showers him with exuberant praises. Kapoor, though, captures Govind and Azaad in an impersonal manner. He doesn't know how to infuse grandness into his images. Hell, he doesn't even know how to sell simple emotions. The background music constantly instructs us on how to react to each scene and moment. But instead of responding as per the musical cues, you start asking important questions. Why does Kapoor remain so incurious about the rebels? When Govind joins Vikram's team, he undergoes a training session or rather one training session, which, too, merely tells us what we already know about Govind's strength (he is flexible). Why not use this opportunity to inform us about things like how these people survive in the wild jungles? How do they hunt? How do they assign stakeout duties, and how do they decide where to camp? During a song sequence, a woman dances for them. Where did she come from? How do deals like these happen?

Azaad, alas, concentrates on a thin, unimaginative drama that, post-interval, begins to test your patience. It takes so much time for Govind to bond with Azaad that we lose interest in them. The comic tone renders these scenes more unbearable. Yes, we get it, Azaad is an alcoholic. Good job. Ha, ha. What else? Couldn't the three writers come up with anything else, apart from something as dumb as making Azaad fall in love with a mare? The horse gives reaction shots like a human character, and this is supposed to be endearing, funny, or whatever. A man lays his eyes on Vikram's soulmate (Diana Penty's character), and Vikram is hanged and tortured. A man lays his eyes on Govind's soulmate (Azaad), and Govind is hanged and tortured. A better film could have done something meaningful with these symmetrical events, but in Azaad, it all reeks of creative bankruptcy and repetitiveness. As everyone cheered and clapped for Govind in the end, I wondered why nobody was giving Azaad medical attention. He is injured with a knife, for god's sake. Take him to a doctor before things become serious. But it seems as if everybody has forgotten about the horse's pain. The movie is so dull that Azaad himself might have forgotten about his pain by consoling himself with the thought, "Hey, the movie has ended. Now I can leave this damn set!" Azaad gets his azaadi in the end.

Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times