Saw Apne today finally. Not a bad effort from the director of the critically acclaimed Gadar or the highly entertaining The Hero:Love Story of a Spy.
Story:
Baldev Singh Choudhary(Dharmendra) is a boxer who was once a world champion.Many years ago he was falsely charged with doping and was banned from boxing.The fire inside him burnt and he decided that his elder son Angad(Sunny Deol) would become a world champion boxer and make him proud.But Sunny paaji decides to get into agro-exports owing to financial problems in the family.The younger son Karan(Bobby Deol) has a virtually useless left hand.Many years pass but Baldev’s wounds grow deeper.He starts training Gaurav(Aryan Vaid), a prodigious boxer who later ditches Baldev and settles for a foreign coach.Karan sees this and with the help of a miraculous psychological trigger his paralysed hand regains life.He sets out to fulfill his father’s dream.And he does….until Luca Gracia(Jonnie Brown) the reigning champion boxer defeats him by cheating.At this point Angad who has been out of the boxing ring for year steps in to fight Luca to avenge his brother and to win back his father’s honour.
Performances:
Both veterans Dharmendra and Kirron Kher are easily the best actors in the film.Both of them emote very well and literally do full justice to the storyboard.Sunny is slightly woodden at places but does have his moments where he shows that he too can act.Bobby does a good job(Bobby is actually beginning to act well these days…surprising) as the physically handicapped son who later aspires to fulfill his father’s dream.Victor Banerjee is alright.Jonnie Brown as Luca is excellent…he looks deadly and gives off that American ‘I-care-a-damn’ attitude with utmost ease.Shilpa Shetty, Divya Dutta and Katrina Kaif are wasted.Dunno why they even signed the film.
Pros:
1)Boxing sequences in the boxing ring are choreographed extremely well…they look real and the viewer really feels for Bobby and Sunny.
2)Cinematography is really very good….especially in the scenes in Punjab and the boxing ring.
3)Anil Sharma is a good storyteller….the movie revolves around family bonding…and true to the central theme….the movie has a million emotions filled in, which flow out with every actor and do evoke emotion in the viewer time and again.
Cons:
1)The script should’ve seriously been tighter….the movie is so slow.Once the boxing scenes start it gets pacy but till then its pretty sluggish.
2)Extremely unreal scenes at places…how come Bobby’s hand which gets alright miraculously is fit for international boxing when it has not been used for years together….agreed he does work it out slowly and steadily but is he really fit enough for a World Championship?
3)Why can’t Bollywood ever show that a rival boxer can simply be more skilled than our hero? Anil Sharma could’ve simply shown Bobby losing and getting thrashed by Luca because Luca is a better fighter….but the script says that Luca cheats and wins…why? Looks extremely forced and filmy.Can’t a boxer ever win only on skill?
4)Music is a huge let down…usually Himesh Reshammiya’s scores are foot-tapping if not full of musical masterpieces….but the music fails to make you tap your foot as also it slows the pace of the film.
5)Sunny trains for one month after a gap of 10 years and beats Luca who is a three time World Champion and has been boxing for years and years and years. Utter nonsense and very filmy. They should’ve shown him training for 6 months at the very least.
Good Scenes:
1)The scene where Dharmendra tells Sunny that he is useless.
2)The scene where Dharmendra breaks down in front of Kirron Kher.
3)The boxing scene between Bobby Deol and Aryan Vaid.
My Verdict:
Apne is for three kinds of people….
a) Who love emotional films.
b) Who love watching fights for family honour and pride and stuff like that(Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar types where Aamir wins the cycle race for family honour).
c) Who love watching either or all of the three Deols.
Not a cinematic masterpiece but recommended for a single viewing for the boxing scenes.