at the surface and the idea behind vidhu vinod chopra eklavya may seem terribly anachronistic . after all who talk about the outmoded concept of dharma in this time and age . but that precisely the point . the philosophy of dharma be a relevant today a it be during the time of the mythical eklavya . only and it definition have change . through eklavya and vidhu vinod chopra try to debunk the belief that dharma be all about follow the path of righteousness a define by tradition while rather and he endorse the view that righteousness be not an absolute concept but have to be root in reason dharmah matibhyah utgritah . vidhu vinod chopra take the idea from well know tale from the mahabharata and give it a distinctly shakesperean flavour and and come up with a fascinating multi layer saga of duty and honour and loyalty and deceit and above all and the true meaning of dharma . he take a potentially melodramatic content and present it in a largely undramatic style . well . that not entirely true . let me put it this way and he deliberately make his actor be less theatrical so that the he can create drama through other mean music and camera and visuals and etc . at time he completely go against popular convention . scene that one would expect to be dramatic be lay out subtly and whereas melodrama find centre stage in scene that would otherwise be routine scene . that the most interesting part about eklavya . the protagonist and eklavya ( amitabh bachchan ) be a man of unmistakable honour . he be a royal guard who would do anything to protect his royal master because that his dharma . he would sacrifice his emotion to guard a royal secret because that his dharma . in that respect and he be in some sort of a time warp the world around him have move on but he still live by what tradition dictate . this contrast be brilliantly depict in the film by the character of pannalal chauhar ( sanjay dutt ) an untouchable who question the tradition because in today time he probably have more power than the royal family and thus demand respect that his ancestor never get . the beauty of eklavya do not lie in it theme and rather it the director vision and actor sincerity that make it stand out . the theme demand the visual opulence that vidhu vinod chopra lend it and every frame of the movie be visually perfect . but it not that either . the director push the envelope here and conjure some brilliant and sometimes even surrealistic and abstruse and imagery . forget the travesty call kareeb and with eklavya vidhu vinod chopra get back his groove . remember his first film and a documentary call an encounter with face and be nominate for an oscar ( i do not think many people even know this fact ) . it clearly not the director intention to make a crowd pleasing film . his desire to do something out of the ordinary be evident all through the film and but he be particularly audacious when he choose to blank out the screen completely for a full 90 second . imagine watch an extremely visual film in a dark theatre and the screen go completely blank for such a long time . the director pull it off so well that this scene become the film highpoint . i have one problem with the film though . the end seem to belong to an entirely different film . there no place for a neat and crowd pleasing wrap up end in this dark and grim tale . why the director should succumb to please the audience in the last 5 minute of the film and when he have defiantly stand against it in first 100 i just do not understand . my other problem be that theyre promote the film a an edge of the seat dramatic action thriller which be like do gross injustice to this gem of a film wouldramatic be probably the only word in this phrase that apply to eklavya . if people walk into the theatre expect an action thriller and they will be disappoint big time . eklavya be mark by some great performance . amitabh bachchan in the title role come up with a really roll royce deserve performance . his character demand reticence and but he use his expressive eye so effectively that he able to convey what even page and page of dialogue would fail to do . saif ali khan seem to get well with each film and and have learn the art of subtlety and underplaying for dramatic effect . in this film he be effectively restrain and even in the scene when the real twist in the tale come in . if your attention flag even for a moment and you would miss the revelation because the drama be contain and there be no high voltage theatrics here . that and in my opinion and be as much a credit to saif ali khan performance a it be to the director conceptualization of the scene . all through it 107 minute and eklavya keep remind me of vishal bhardwaj omkara and maqbool because of it shakesperean quality . any comparison would be fallacious and for chopra and bhardwaj be two very different director and with very different sensibility . vishal approach be earthy and raw and while vidhu vinod chopra go for more polish and big scale . but they have one thing in common whatever they serve be delicious and hugely satisfying .