Sajid Khan has been flying high after giving three consecutive hits with Akshay Kumar, is back with his 4th directorial venture HIMMATWALA with Ajay Devgan playing the lead role. The film is a remake of a HIMMATWALA made in 1983, which was liked by one and all because of the different kind of treatment given to the film by director K. Raghvendra Rao, different flavor of comedy, huge sets used for song sequences, etc.
Sajid Khan has been blowing his own trumpet ever since the film was launched and has also claimed that this will be another 100 crore business film. I don’t see any harm in having such confidence in one’s product subject to the confidence is not coated by a shade of arrogance, which seems to be the case with his latest film.
When it is a remake of a film that created magic at box office, it is quite obvious that people those who have seen the original still have glimpses of the original in their memory, which will force them to compare the latest product with the original. Some may say it is baseless but they will also agree that is inevitable as well and that is where the remake falls flat on its face.
Even though Sajid Khan has claimed that his remake is different from the original but I couldn’t find anything different except a twist in the tale, which looks forced by Sajid Khan the writer to justify his claim because it hardly makes any difference to the film. The basic plot remains the same – hero returns to his village, falls in love with bad man’s daughter and takes revenge.
Writer Sajid Khan in an attempt to give a different HIMMATWALA was lost for ideas hence he incorporated famous scenes from Khoon Pasina, Lawaaris and Kaala Patthar to add flavor to the film but I sincerely would prefer to watch in the originals Mr. Bachchan doing all those scenes and will take myself to those days when the viewer went nuts and the whistles echoed in the theaters even after the scene has changed.
Photography is good. Music by Sajid Wajid is just average largely due to the two songs that are taken from the original. Naino mein sapna and Taki o taki are the two songs which are repeated in the remake and make you tap your foot while the songs are on the screen. It is really sad that we have now to listen to songs like ‘Maar de bum pe laat’ while girls and kids kick the heroine in her bum.
Dialogues writer has tried his best to give the film a touch that will bring smile on the viewers’ lips but that doesn’t happen except on a couple of occasions.
HIMMATWALA fails miserably because the characters are neither lively nor they impress to any degree. Sajid Khan has failed to develop them to the level that is required to create magic and he forgot that people are going to compare them with the original characters.
Amjad Khan was both hilarious and dangerous whereas Mahesh Manjrekar playing the character of Sher Singh is neither. A very poorly written and developed character that confuses the viewer as we fail to understand whether he is smart or a fool or a joker or something else.
Paresh Rawal is a wonderful actor but why was he asked to imitate Kader Khan? Because even though he tried hard to bring smile to your face but still fails to do so.
Adhayan Suman is strictly ok as Paresh Rawal’s son. Leena Jumani does a good job as the sister of hero. Tamanna is a good looking woman and did well. Sonakshi Sinha in a guest appearance looks good. The best performance comes from Zarina Wahab, who delivers an excellent performance.
Ajay Devgan who is the main character is also a weak character when compared to JItendra’s in the original who returns to his village as an engineer to build the dam and in between takes revenge. Whereas in the remake due to the poor writing Ajay’s character has not become strong and as a result his performance is just okay.
Well, Sajid Khan has to take all the blame for killing the entertainment in the film and for taking the viewers for granted. Sajid Khan has failed both as a writer and a director. The fight scenes in the climax are over the top, which no one would digest and Zarina Wahab trying to touch Ajay’s feet is a very poorly written and executed scene.
Sajid Khan has called the film ‘An Entertainer by Sajid Khan’ but this film is a live example of how to spoil entertainment. Ignore the remake and watch the original to relive the magic.