Governor review: This Manoj Bajpayee starrer is a race against bankruptcy that runs out of steam

Governor review
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Adah Sharma, Noushad Mohamed Kunju
Director: Chinmay D Mandlekar
Rating: 2.5 stars

At one point while watching Governor, it began to feel less like cinema and more like an economics class. And while that may work well for a web series, where there is enough time and space to delve into ideas, it becomes a challenge in a theatrical film. There is simply too much information being packed in, without enough dramatic variation to keep the narrative engaging.

Chinmaya, who earlier directed the delightful Inspector Zende, clearly has a knack for period dramas, and once again returns to the late 1980s. Framed as a race against time to save a nation on the brink, the film channels the urgency of a thriller, primarily because of its background score. The first half, devoted to setting up the crisis, is engaging. It does a good job of establishing the scale of the problem and the pressure on those tasked with solving it.

But as the narrative progresses and Ramanan repeatedly finds solutions to the massive problem at hand, a sense of repetition begins to creep in. The structure starts feeling cyclical: a new obstacle emerges, a solution is found, and it doesn’t work… on to the next one.

What initially feels novel gradually loses some of its impact, largely because the film struggles to find fresh ways of presenting the development. While the solutions themselves may be significant from a historical standpoint, it can’t always translate into compelling drama on-screen.

The second half is a continuation of the same issue. By this point, the film has little else to break the rhythm. The urgency remains intact, but the storytelling begins to feel functional than dramatic. As a result, Governor often feels more informative than involving.

In the performance department, Manoj Bajpayee is operating firmly within his comfort zone. He has played characters of this nature so often that the performance comes effortlessly. From the outset, it is difficult to separate Manoj the actor from Ramanan the character, as the role doesn’t demand anything particularly new from him. That said, his screen presence lends the film credibility.

Adah Sharma plays the quintessential journalist often found in films of this nature, constantly pushing the protagonist and raising the stakes. Her character leaves little lasting impression. Madhoo Shah, as Ramanan’s wife, delivers an okay performance.