There’s a reason why all well-intentioned film don’t work. Would Rang De Basanti have worked if it didn’t have that smidgen of mischief, great acting, solid script and fabulous songs? The message did rattle people, but it was all the more effective because of its presentation. No preaching, it said; we’re just telling you a story that hopefully will inspire you.

On the other hand, most issue-based films get self-conscious and self-involved, leaving out the viewers entirely. They lecture, lecture, lecture - their characters speak in an unidentifiable language, belting out monologues, and are always caught in improbable situations.

Now when producer-writer-director Mehul Kumar made Krantiveer in 1994 and had Nana Patekar speak without full stops and commas, the viewer sat and listened because this kind of in-your-face sloganeering was appealing at the time and Patekar’s style was distinctive.

But that was 16 years ago. The viewer has now moved on to subtler ways of absorbing a story. In Krantiveer - The Revolution, the sequel to Krantiveer, we see Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia’s daughter as the central protagonist.

An equally firebrand TV reporter, Roshni (Jahan Bloch) is the only endearing character through the film. In fact, it’s a visual relief to see a character travelling by bus - so saturated are we of our films unable to think beyond swanky cars.

She’s the sort who’ll take the pervert sitting next to her on the bus straight to the police station. Admirable - you’re rooting for her till here.

Then we see that even the senior cop at the police station is a sleaze. So Roshni begins a loud reprimand of the entire system from the politicians to the cops and so on. There goes the bite from the scene.

Immediately, from a situation that was a slice of life, it turns into a speech- filled Hindi film. There are many such moments in the film. (In fact, one of the nicer things one can say is that the film has some lovely songs.)

Several situations that were reported widely in the media are incorporated into the film. Strangely, TV actor Aman Varma, who was himself caught on tape in a casting couch sting operation a few years ago, plays a leering corporate boss asking for sexual favours off interviewees (is it a coincidence that this is his most convincing portrayal ever?).

But this incident has been so shoddily recreated that it ends up diluting the seriousness of the problem. Then on, the film attempts tackling several (too many) issues: Roshni sees a husband beating the wife and inspires the woman to beat him back, by giving mythological references to a woman’s strength (aurat ka doosra roop chandi aur durga hai).

It’s obvious that when a film looks at complex and serious problems in such a simplistic fashion, it’s only doing those issues an immense disservice. Then on we also see the terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal hotel that eventually leads to the public suddenly waking up and beating corrupt politicians to death.

Sigh, yes, it’s that kind of film. The rich fuddy-duddies discuss evil things in their sprawling living rooms, the villains have names like Chatur Singh Chitah, the definition of wanting “firangi khaana” is an item song with blonde dancers, and the film ends with a slogan saying, `This is the beginning’.

Having finally gotten rid of such films only recently, the viewer is in no hurry to revisit.