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‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’ Ends up Being Ordinary

Dhanush shines through in his pivotal role with good-natured sincerity in ‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’.

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Review: The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir starts by telling us how all of us are born equal but “one micro second after we are born, the tyranny of chance takes over.” There is no choice but to play with the hand we’ve been dealt, and young Aja (played by Dhanush) learns this soon enough.

When a young Ajatashatru lavash Patel realises he is poor, he decides he doesn’t want to remain so. He soon picks up small tricks to make a quick buck from playing a fakir, cheating gullible tourists.

Aja’s mother is a washerwoman, with whom he lives in a small, dilapidated house in Worli, Mumbai. She nurtures a dream of visiting Paris. So Aja promises to take her, but when fate does not help him with that promise, he hustles his exit and flies down to Paris. What follows is a rather amusing streak of serendipity and tough luck that takes him on an unexpected adventure .

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Directed by Ken Scott, the movie is based on Romain Puertolas ‘s novel The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir about this man who gets trapped in an Ikea wardrobe.

When a determined Aja reaches Paris, he falls for a woman (Erin Moriarty) at a furniture store. Just as things seem to be going well for Aja, a tumultuous journey lands him in England, takes him to Rome – where he receives unexpected support from a famous actor (Berenice Bejo) – and even drops him in Libya, where he is united with his immigrant friend played by Barkhad Abdi.

The whole notion of chance and karma steering one’s destination, although interesting and engaging, starts feeling a little too stretched-out, without the requisite emotional play-off.

Dhanush, however, shines through in his pivotal role, with his good-natured sincerity.

There are some genuinely heartwarming moments, like when Aja wants to say his final goodbye to his mother or the bond he shares with Marie (including a full-fledged dance number scored by Amit Trivedi).

However, it’s a pity that the film never quite holds itself together and dissipates ending up with a journey quite ordinary. 2.5 quints out of 5!

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Topics:  Dhanush 

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