excellent acting by Amitab Bachan Saif Ali Khan and cameo role by Raima Sen. Vidya balan is wasted. the cutting and editing is very good. But the story is nothing to do with Ekalavya except for some mambo jumbo of Dharma. The foreign audience cannot even understand the Puranic concept of Dharma. I saw somewhere "dalit history". where is the history of dalits come here. I do not think any queen would have allowed a Dalit to impregnate daughter in law. This is unrealistic even though politically correct. Besides in a feudal society a Dalit would not have become a Royal guard. This is not Dalit History in a feudal ambiance.At the same time the story is interesting and the final twist is somewhat reasonable though little melodramatic.

Now this film promos shouted classic from the top of the roof but sadly the film comes only half The film starts off well, Sharmila's death scene is well handled and the drama thickens The film keeps you involved but sadly we expected much more The pigeons part was not well integrated in the plot and also the second half gets predictable and we know the actual killerEven the Saif-Vidya romance track and the climax is half bakedDirection by VVC is excellent in parts only Camera-work deserves 5/5Amongst actors Bachchan proves yet again he is an institution His body lang, dialogue delivery, expressions all are flawless even if he is just standing behind some lead actors he makes a maximum impact One of his best works Saif too does a great job,showing his growth as an actor Sanju is full of fun in his role and is brilliant in serious scenes His look and role is similar to THANEDAAR but he does a great job Vidya is mechanical Boman Irani excels in his part, Jimmy too excels in a negative role while Jackie is perfect

Eklavya certainly does not do justice to the creation with such great actors of current era. The problem is lack of entertainment, which is consistently absent in failed movies of VV Chopra '1947 – A love story', 'Mission Kashmir', 'Parineeta'. May be this is the reason these movies do not do any good on box office. But still it is hard to say that the movies were bad. These movies provide a very less entertainment. Eklavya too lacks entertainment. Moreover it fails to take best out of the actors. It also does not make a clear picture of what the director wants to convey. I guess introduction of unnecessary characters has killed the main theme. The characters of Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani and Vidya Balan has very limited role which do not do any justice to the acting skills of these good actors.The movie is really good for the eyes. One thing in which VV Chopra has scored point is the environment making. The sketch of rural India is very effective. The big palace, its surrounding, the entire town and also the dessert fits perfectly to the theme, and there is no issue there. The music is also matching with this environment and soothing to the ear. All the actors have done a good job. You can not think any other person in the role of Eklavya other than Amitabh Bachhan. This man do not need dialogs to talk. Saif has also given full justice to his character. Audience can get his emotions and can find the battle he is playing with himself, not knowing what decision is right or wrong. Jackey Shroff and Jim Shergill have done decent in their negative characters. Others though have very limited roles has done their best and fits the characters that they have done. The unrealistic and larger than life picture of main character is another weak point. The scene where Amitabh shows his aiming and concentration skills was unnecessary, and takes the movie on the fairy tale path. Not only this, but again many other scenes should have been shortened in length. This is what makes the movie boring. I feel that if VV looks at his flop films, he himself will understand the problem. The movie is more than the main path Bollywood movie, takes the path of the art movie. So it dangles in between this, and at the end, ends nowhere.

It's artfully shot like other V.V.Chopra movies. The male star cast has given stellar acting performances. Amitabh is brilliant (for a change), Boman is starkly poignant and Sanjay Dutt is rock-solid. What then stops the film from being an engrossing entertainer or a classic art film? The reason, ladies and gentlemen, seems to be the director's confusion about whether he wanted an out and out commercial entertainer or a subtle artsy classic. The treatment goes from extremely spoofable (the screenplay is THAT mediocre) to intensely admirable between shots-and that is where the audience's attention wanes.Set in the here and now, the film is about skeletons in royal cupboards and illegitimate royalty. King Rana Jaywardhan (Boman Irani)'s impotence results in Eklavya (Amitabh Bachchan)'s sleeping with Queen Suhasinidevi (Sharmila Tagore). While she's bed-ridden, the queen gets foolish enough to ask her husband to fetch her lover and gets strangled. It is then upto Prince Harshwardhan (Saif Ali Khan), Eklavya and Sanju the brash and witty cop to seek revenge and justice and a very sweet'n'syrupy family reunion. Amitabh has done great justice to this role of a lifetime. - Ditto with Boman. - Sanjay Dutt is refreshing. - Vidya Balan plays a very unconvincing Rajjo, Harshwardhan's childhood sweetheart. (Someone could do with a few hours in the gym there.) - Raima Sen turns in an unremarkable but just about OK performance as Harshwardhan's mentally challenged twin sister, Princess Nandini. - Sharmila Tagore disappoints greatly. - Jimmy Shergill and Jackie Shroff are surprisingly good. - Saif doesn't have all that much to do differently-given a rather conventional role and a more conventional approach to handling it. But he seems to have done whatever justice he could.The music's nothing great, the romance lacks spark. But yes, it deserves a chance for sure.