From All the reviews on the web
Showing 8 Reviews
List of Well Done Abba Movie Reviews
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Rajeev Masand Site:IBNLive
While the director has continually succeeded in addressing important social issues even while telling lighthearted personal tales, Well Done Abba appears to be bursting at its seams with too many messages about women's rights, communal harmony, rural education and the right to information act. Despite some genuinely comic portions in which Benegal exposes the extent of double dealing and bribery involved in Indian rural politics, the film as a whole is hard to enjoy because of its sluggish pace, and because of your inability to empathize with Armaan Ali. I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five for director Shyam Benegal's Well Done Abba. There is much to appreciate about this film, but it demands solid patience on your part.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Taran Adarsh Site:BollywoodHungama
Like most Benegal movies, WELL DONE ABBA! has a story to tell with a message. Although the issue [corruption] isn't new and has been attempted in various movies before, the interesting characters and the way the story moves ahead make the effort watchable, in the first hour mainly.But the writing goes haywire in its post-interval portions, when the 'missing' baudi becomes the topic of discussion, so much so that the government and the opposition party trade accusations and counter-accusations. These portions look farcical and are far from convincing.Visit Site for More
Even otherwise, the story loses its sheen in this hour and the sluggish pace and unnecessary sequences only add to the woes.On the whole, WELL DONE ABBA! has some wonderful moments, but they're few and far between. It holds appeal for a tiny sect of viewers, mainly Shyam Benegal fans.
Ratings:4/5 Reviewer:Nikhat Kazmi Site:TimesOfIndia
Shyam Benegal's Well Done Abba emerges as some kind of a benchmark for our current brat pack who want to say so much, so very differently. The film unfolds like a gentle symphony -- never over the top, never hysterical -- even as it ends up as a hard-hitting satire on the entire misnomer of `India Shining', India growing, India evolving, et al.. The film is a sheer delight, with the events unfolding in a breezy, comic vein which keeps the ribs relentlessly tickling. But what's more alluring are the colourful characters and the multi-layered approach to the problems of a village which becomes a microcosm of the entire nation. Savour and sensitize yourself with substance and soul. Watch some Well Done cinema.Visit Site for More
Ratings:3/5 Reviewer:Elvis D Silva Site:Rediff
It often comes as a surprise to watch movies set in the real India, the one not populated by Gucci and Prada-sporting leading men and women; the one where every other young man is not named Raj or Karan. And so it is with the latest from Shyam Benegal,Well Done Abba is set largely in a little village near Hyderabad and is the tale of one Armaan Ali (Boman Irani )and his quest to build a well on his patch of agricultural land at a time when water is becoming increasingly scarce in his corner of the world. In its attempt at underlining the frustrations of an average man trying to wend his way through the system, it paints a disturbing picture. But because it plays the events for laughs rather than pathos, I wonder whether the impact of the real situation will be felt (or appreciated) by us city folk without ties to the rural life.Visit Site for More
Ratings:3/5 Reviewer:Gaurav Malani Site:Indiatimes
The film primarily points out the prevalent bureaucratic corruption that hijacks several schemes initiated by the government for the poor thereby hindering development of the society and hence the country. It also intelligently brings out the irony of how staying below the poverty line has rich outputs. Despite being a trail and tribulation journey, Benegal’s direction has a feel-good charm to it. His storytelling is so straightforward that even when the film extends beyond its climax into a celebratory song, you don’t mind much. Ashok Mishra’s hilarious dialogues have a countryside authenticity to it and Benegal ensures that the peculiar traits and accents of each character are well captured.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Anupama Chopra Site:NDTV
There are many good things in Well Done Abba. Benegal creates a darkly comic theater of the absurd, which indicts every level of government from the irrigation minister to the local sarpanch who attests that she has tasted the sweet water of a well that was never dug.Well Done Abba also tries to tackle too many issues – there is a nod at women’s rights, a quick mention of the right to information act and a climactic plea for religious tolerance.The end result is that Well Done Abba is heart-felt and intermittently funny but not flat-out delightful like Benegal’s last film Welcome to Sajjanpur. You need oodles of patience to enjoy this one. I recommend that you wait for the DVD so you can speed up things yourself.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Shubhra Gupta Site:IndianExpress
`Well Done Abba’ scores on a couple of counts. By getting Boman Irani to play Armaan Ali, resident of Chikatpally in Andhra Pradesh, father of a teenage daughter, and above all, teller of truth. And by focusing on the emotive issue of water, or the lack of it .But the downside of `Well Done Abba’ is that it is too lax, and, after a point, too stuffed. The pace picks up so slowly that you nearly tune out, and when post-interval, everything seems to be settling down nicely, Benegal starts throwing about long winded acronyms : spelling out the Right To Information Act can stop a movie dead. Watch it for a village that feels like a village, not something created on a Filmcity set, like the air-brushed trying-too-hard-for-rusticity Sajjanpur. And for Boman Irani’s excellent performance.Visit Site for More
Ratings:3/5 Reviewer:Aniruddha Guha Site:DNA
Well Done Abba! is a simple story about simple people.It defies the stereotype and makes you smile without resorting to buffoonery. But the unwanted scenes, lethargic pace and wafer-thin storyline take away from the film what was created in its first hour. Although the issue isn’t new and has been attempted in various movies, the interesting characters and the way the story moves make the effort watchable. Well Done Abba! has some wonderful moments, but they’re few and far between.Visit Site for More
