This movie once again conclusively proves that the Big “B” towers head and shoulders above the rest of the pretenders to the throne! I have no more superlatives to use than the one’s that have already been used for him – all of them pale in comparison to the man himself!
This is a movie with a fairly simple story – an innocent man (good) taking on the might of an underworld don (evil) and ultimately winning in the end. The direction by Rajkumar Santoshi is good but he has done far better work earlier in movies like Damini, Ghayal, Andaz Apna Apna etc. This movie’s strength is the performances of two men who really outshone everybody else in 2005 and if this is any indication, will continue in 2006. Mr. Bachchan has been wowing us for the past 30 years, but Akshay Kumar has come into his own only in the last couple of years.
It is the story of a Gang lord Viren Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) who guns down Shekhar (Akshay Kumar) – an innocent bystander. Shekhar’s younger brother Aryan (Aryaman – a debutant) who was an absolute wastrel decides to avenge his brother’s murder. He, with the help of a few friends kidnaps Viren Sahai’s family and holds them hostage in return for the man himself. That in essence is the plot.
The first half belongs totally to Akshay Kumar. The man is in his element as the simple cook who runs a fast food van and falls in love with Bhumika Chawla. He is also the doting brother for Aryan and shields him both from his Dad and sundry other characters. Then disaster strikes and he’s gunned down as an innocent by-stander in a beautifully picturised shoot out.
Aryan on hearing about this decides to take revenge and manages to kidnap the entire family of Viren Sahai who himself lives in Bangkok. The second half is all about how from a supremely confident Don, Viren Sahai becomes a broken man at the end. As I said before Amitabh is brilliant. The scene where he threatens all the assembled dons with retribution if his family is not found sees him at his menacing best. When he’s bad in the film – he’s convincingly evil. Another landmark scene is the last sequence – where he portrays a clearly broken man – trying very hard not to show it – and does he do it with Élan!
The rest of the cast – though very competent – specially Sushant Singh as the son and Shernaz Patel as the wife of the Don and Bhumika Chawla as the dignified widow – are more support cast. Aryaman has the central role, to which he could not do complete justice, in spite of an extremely strong characterization. He has a long way to go before he can match steps with Amitabh or Akshay.
The songs are a hindrance in the flow of the film and should not have been there.
All in all a must watch for Bachchan fans and also for those who are not his fans (???) just to see what good acting is all about.