Star Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Priya Bapat & Others
Advertisement
Director: Sejal Shah
Advertisement
What’s Bad: Nothing worthy enough to be pointed out or discussed!
Loo Break: Might take one if you want but totally not needed!
Watch or Not?: Definitely Yes!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Zee 5
Runtime: 2 hour 4 minutes
User Rating:
“24 carat gold duniya ki sabse sundar but useless cheez hoti hai. Itna soft ki bina milawat uski jewelery bhi nahi ban sakti. Some people are that 24 carat gold, value to bahut hai lekin unka kuch nahi ho sakta hai. Kyunki unme koi milavat nahi hai.” Costao Fernandes is that 24-carat Gold, and director Sejal Shah made sure that she turns his life with the perfect blend of elements to deliver a 22-carat Gold story. And this is a worthy attempt that elevated her film above the good and the bad parameters!
You don’t analyze or segregate Gold into good Gold or bad Gold. Gold is Gold! And so is this film so good, that I really do not care if there was anything bad. The biographical drama is based on the life of a Customs Officer of the Indian Navy, who made sure that the illegal smuggling of Gold is banned in Goa!
Costao Fernandes was a one-man army who tried to stop the smuggling after getting a tip from his informer, but things went against him, and he accidentally killed the brother of the most important man in Goa. What follows next is a long trial after the CBI frames him and puts murder charges on the officer!
The story of the film dives straight into the premise, and no time was taken to set up and introduce the Hero – Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He slips into the character like a chameleon and looks so convincing in the part that I do not believe. I did not see the real man whose story was being told! The actor delivers a powerful performance. He is vulnerable at times, scared at times, helpless at times, and his single monologue, exploring his feelings and guilt of murdering a man, is a masterclass for actors!
Advertisement
After Irrfan died, it felt like a personal loss. I could not imagine any actor filling his shoes, and I surrendered all my hopes of witnessing magic on screen with the strongest biographical stories ever. Nawazuddin Siddiqui never crossed my mind as Irrfan’s rightful heir since it has been a long time since I witnessed something magical from him. Probably the last time he did it was Photograph, an original Prime Video film starring Sanya Malhotra.
But you know, good artists have a purity about themselves, and it is in the darkest times they arrive to save the art. In this case, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as Costao, arrived to instill our hopes that Yes, there is a lot of good left in Cinema and it still has torchbearers who would not let the art of filmmaking die a slow death getting crushed amidst the stampede of chest-thumping films!
Advertisement
Costao is so brilliantly done that the entire needs a round of applause. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this film. In fact, Nawazuddin could deliver because Bhavesh Mandalia and Meghna Srivastava write a beautiful story with intricately designed dialogues. The film lights up in small moments that have been created in a linear film about a murder trial of a Navy Officer!
Sejal Shah, while building Costao’s character, makes sure to develop his circumstances as strong subplots. His emotions are the biggest character that shines in the film. And a brilliant set of dialogues have been worked upon to let these emotions play the hero here! In one of the scenes, Costao’s wife complains that he loves his duty and the country more than him since she doesn’t remember when he told her that he loves her!
Advertisement
Saying ‘I Love You’ to someone is so important. However, the dialogues elevate a simple moment between a husband and wife that had all the possibilities in the world to turn cringe. Costao explains that just like he loves the country but says Vande Mataram twice a year – on Republic Day and Independence Day. Similarly, he loves his wife equally but says I Love You twice a year, on birthdays and anniversaries!
Trust me, in any other scenario, this could have turned a cringeworthy of a scene, but Sejal Shah and her team elevate this on the writing level, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui makes sure to turn this magical with his finesse!
There are some more emotions that have been mastered in the film very strategically. An officer who is so committed and a team of officers who aren’t corrupt, who aren’t whales trying to gulp each other, but all of them are a tight and closed community. They look after each other, support each other, and most importantly, propagate each other! One officer from Goa makes sure that the CBI Officer handling the case knows that Costao is a gem of an officer who only knows how to perform his duty!
Fighting against the most powerful man in Goa is not easy. And there are officers who compromise, and one of the officers delivers the dilemma, “Ye Antaraatma ki Nawaz doesn’t work. Main aadha India ghoom chuka hoon. Yahan tikna hai to bureaucracy samajhni padegi. Kal main tere kaam aaya to aaj tujhe mere kaam aana padega. But itna sa hi hai. Isi pe tika hai poora India.” Obviously, he probably defends his guilt, but there is not a single frame in which you see him feeling guilty! He is very confident and unapologetic for the compromises he has made!
The most beautiful arc of the film arrives when Costao and his wife are separated because she cannot take it anymore! She is mothering the three kids in a terrifying atmosphere where one does not know who might get killed when! The guilt of the separation and the pain chaotically haunt Costao when he says, “Separated maa baap ke bachche bahut jaldi samajhdaar ho jaate hai. Use samajhdaari boliye ya majboori boliye.”
The only point where Costao is probably wavering and people might disconnect is when he enters the legal battle. In one of the scenes, he confronts his boss about why this case is not about the Indian Customs Department versus D’Mello, the most powerful man in Goa. Why is this case not about smuggling and how did it turn into a murder trial. The film never delves into the deeper roots of corruption and power politics!
However, even this has been strategically dealt I feel. Being a Common Man in India, you can never enter the cobweb of corruption and politics! The legal battle is resolved very easily, and it could have something more powerful and better on that front!
But despite these two issues, Costao shines for two reasons – one is not turning Nawazuddin Siddiqui into a larger than life hero! At no point does he become bigger than the story, and in the story of Fernandes, he is the real hero from the start to the end! Secondly, it shines continuously; while the story shines in its entirety, the film shines in moments, and there are loads of them! When good films happen, everything aligns, right from dialogues to camerawork to costumes to the supporting, and all of this is held together with really good music! Which is a rarity these days.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui very effortlessly brings back what has been missing in Bollywood – a good film. That’s about it. I still have a hangover! What great content! And such a pure and honest film!
4 stars!
For more such reviews, stay tuned to Koimoi.
Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Google News
Advertisement
