It took Vidhu Vinod Chopra 5 years to write Eklavya and its worth all the 1825 days of ink, paper, sweat and brains!<br /><br />Eklavya transports you to the vivid land of Rajasthan, where the Local Rana (Boman Irani, splendid) still considers himself the king even though democracy prevails. Eklavya, the royal guard (Amitabh Bachchan, however unbelievable it may sound this is his best performance till date. In some scenes, you can't look straight into his eyes! You deserve the Rolce Royce Mr. Bachchan!!) is endowed with the responsibility to protect and safeguard the so called king and his kingdom just like his previous 9 generations have been blindly abiding.<br /><br />Jackie Shroff as the Rana's cunning brother and Jimmy Shergill as his over-confident son fit the bill with perfection. Sanjay Dutt as Inspector Chauvhan is superbly refreshing and brings in the required humour factor.<br /><br />The film commences with a very unpredictable twist and climaxes with a very predictable one.<br /><br />What lies in between forms the crux of this miniature masterpiece. The plot is genuinely original, cinematography breath-taking, editing is swift and the background score sharply contributes to the ongoings.<br /><br />Where Eklavya loses its 2 stars is the slightly sloppy screenplay after the interval and the okie-dokie romance angle between Harshwardan (Saif Ali Khan, intensely controlled) and Rajjo (Vidya Balan, eye candy). You either make it piping hot or don't make them fall in love at all Mr.Chopra.<br /><br />Eklavya will blow you away with its plot and the way it is executed and elaborated by the director's witty creativity. Specially, the scene where a thousand camels run along the train kicking up a virtual sandstorm or when Eklavya plunges the cinema hall into darkness with only his ears alert at work.<br /><br />You will fall in Lav with Eklavya as soon as you take your first step out of the theater. Go catch this vibrantly entertaining Rajasthan Express which lasts only about 110 minutes and you won't come out unentertained. The message is clear and the medium of message couldn't be more entertaining. It certainly is Indian cinema at its best.