All you need to know about 'Wazir' including review, plot, cast, trailer and songs

Not many people know or remember but Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Wazir, which is set to hit the theatres on Jan 8 was originally planned as an English movie titled The Fifth Move which was supposed to have either Dustin Hoffman or Anthony Hopkins

A rediff.com article from 2003 quotes Chopra saying: “So far, there is no positive word from Hoffman, though he said he liked the script very much. I am also planning to offer the role to Anthony Hopkins.” However, the movie never worked out and Chopra had claimed that Indian audience weren’t mature enough for a movie like that. Well we are going to find out on Jan 8, 2016 if the audience likes the movie or not in its Hindi avatar Wazir. Incidentally, a wazir doesn’t appear in conventional chess pieces but rather fairy chess and is like a pawn but can move backwards or like a rook which can move just one square.

Plot: According to IMDB, 'Wazir' is a tale of two unlikely friends, a wheelchair-bound chess grandmaster and a brave ATS officer. Brought together by grief and a strange twist of fate, the two men decide to help each other win the biggest games of their lives. But there's a mysterious, dangerous opponent lurking in the shadows, who is all set to checkmate them.

Cast:

•  Amitabh Bachchan as Pandit Omkarnath Dhar
• Farhan Akhtar as Danish Ali
• Aditi Rao Hydari as Ruhana Ali
• Neil Nitin Mukesh as Wazir
• John Abraham as S. P.
• Manav Kaul
• Anjum Sharma
• Mazel Vyas

Trailer

The trailer of Farhan's upcoming release Wazir was attached to PK's, and earned Farhan Akhtar rave reviews. Since then Farhan has been receiving appreciation from a lot of police officials. They have been very impressed with Farhan’s transformation. In the film Farhan has essayed the role of an ATS cop and has got a new look. Farhan had earlier approached a few top officials from the department to understand the nature of their job. He also closely observed them to pick up their manner of speaking and their body language

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Songs

The soundtrack consisted of songs like Tere Bina sung by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal and composed by Shantanu MOitra which was written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Others are Tu Mere Paas, Khel Khel Mein, Maula, Tere Liye Mere Kareem.

Wazir Review by DNA 

Spectacular camera-work by Sanu John Varghese is one of the film's heroes. The other, most obviously, is Amitabh Bachchan. He quickly and effortlessly demonstrates how well he can lift a supposedly weak scene and even make a limited actor like Farhan Akhtar look good by just being in the same frame. Manav Kaul shines as a possibly crooked politician. While the screenplay by Abhijaat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra has its highs, the editing has its lows. The music, while complementary and adequate, tends to bog down the pace in places. Read more.. 

Interesting snippets about the movie 

When Farhan Akhtar was bowled over by Amitabh Bachchan

Actor Farhan Akhtar is amazed with the way megastar Amitabh Bachchan works hard even at this age to reinvent himself. The duo will be seen together in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Wazir. "He (Amitabh Bachchan) works very hard to reinvent himself. It is not easy to do... It is a tiring process especially with each generation. To see that energy and enthusiasm is exciting. Not everybody has a career as long as him. He is inspirational to me and I focus on that aspect," Farhan said. The Dil Chahta Hai helmer found Big B's working style quite impressive.

"He has been here since 45 years or so he is doing films for so long and yet excited. He is still hungry for good work. He is so enthusiastic working on sets... Working with new directors. That to me is impressive," he said. Farhan was bowled over by the child-like quality of 73-year-old legend. "He is a very serious person. He has a serious childlike quality which comes once in a while when you are on sets. It’s really nice to see it. That excitement level, enthusiasm and energy is fun to see," he said. (Read more...)

Even Arvind Kejriwal was impressed

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attended the screening of upcoming action thriller Wazir along with the film's team including Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, Bejoy Nambiar and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Kejriwal watched the film at PVR's Director's Cut in New Delhi. (Read: What Kejriwal thought of Wazir)

No problem from Mr Nihalani

As far as relations between the  film industry and the  Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) is concerned , 2016  seems off too a smooth start. Bejoy Nambiar’s Wazir, the first major film of the year, has been given an all-clear by the CBFC. In spite of its dark tone and violent underbelly Wazir was given a ‘UA’ with no cuts. Apparently the censorboard members quibbled over some scenes which were found to be violent. But finally, everybody agreed that dark undertones of the theme demanded a certain amount of violence. Director Bejoy Nambiar is overjoyed with relief at how smoothly his new film has sailed through the Censor Board. He had to face a lot of problems with the Board with his last film David which was released in January 2013. Says Bejoy, “We were hoping there would be no problems. I was  worried about a couple scenes and shots. But thankfully we sailed through.” (Read: Wazir gets Censor Nod)

When Neil Nitin Mukesh tried to intimidate Big B

In his eight-year long career, Neil Nitin Mukesh may have played various negative characters, but the actor says the role he has in upcoming filmWazir is his darkest portrayal yet. Neil, who made his debut with Johnny Gaddar, stars in the titular role as an antagonist in the drama-thriller directed by Bejoy Nambiar. "Wazir is nothing but dark, he mocks and enjoys somebody else's pain. This is my darkest portrayal yet. I myself was quite shocked that I played this character. He is very unpredictable... Whether it's his face, voice or look, I had to work extremely hard for this," Neil said. (Read: When Neil Nitin Mukesh tried to intimidate Big B)