Prassthanam
- Director
- Deva Katta
- Studio
- Sanjay S Dutt Productions
- Release Date
- 20 September 2019
- Running Time
- 138 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹20.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹5.90 Cr
Cast
Review
Sanjay Dutt's return vehicle, *Prassthanam*, attempts to marry Uttar Pradesh's fractious political landscape with family melodrama, but the execution crumbles under the weight of its own ambitions. Director Rohit Shetty's protégé, Deva Katta, constructs a narrative that oscillates between revenge flashbacks and contemporary political maneuvering without developing either strand convincingly. The film's central conceit—a four-time MLA bound by an oath to protect his mentor's family—carries thematic heft, but the screenplay dilutes this tension through repetitive exposition and predictable character arcs. Sanjay Dutt delivers a competent if uninspired performance as the dutiful patriarch, while Jackie Shroff brings gravitas to brief moments, yet the supporting cast remains underdeveloped. The political machinery serves as mere backdrop rather than lived context, reducing what could have been a sharp critique of power structures to melodramatic posturing.
The structural fragmentation between past and present repeatedly undermines narrative momentum. The flashback sequences detailing Baldev and Badshah's protective violence lack the visceral punch needed to justify their contemporary moral weight, while the present-day conflict between Baldev's political ascendancy and Palak's estrangement feels contrived rather than organic. Chunky Pandey's presence as Majid, the rival politician, is thoroughly wasted, and the family discord between Saroj and Palak registers as emotional manipu
Storyline
So basically, this movie is set in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, where this powerful four-time MLA named Baldev Pratap Singh is riding high on popularity after taking down some corrupt businessman. There's another politician named Majid who also wants the party ticket from the same area, so there's definitely some tension brewing. The story also flashes back to show how Baldev and his buddy Badshah were willing to do whatever it took to protect their mentor Jaiprakash and his family back in the day.
As it turns out, things got pretty violent in the past when Jaiprakash's son Shiv was killed during an election rally by a rival politician. Baldev and Badshah took revenge, and when Jaiprakash was dying, he made Baldev promise to marry his daughter-in-law Saroj and look after Shiv's two kids. So Baldev stepped up and became their guardian, keeping his word to his old friend.
Now in the present time, Ayush, one of Shiv's kids, has grown up and is working alongside Baldev in politics, basically becoming his successor. But his sister Palak has completely cut ties with both their mother and Baldev, which really hurts Saroj. Palak is now a doctor living her own life with her husband and kids, and she's still bitter about how quickly her mom remarried after their father's death. So you've got all this family drama mixed in with political ambition and old debts coming due.
