Director:Rakesh Roshan
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah, Rekha, Sharat Saxena, Hemant Pandey, Puneet Issar, Archana Puran Singh, Maaninee Mishra, Gin Xia
Getting back to doing what I love…. thrashing movies!!! I love watching movies…any language, any genre and I also love to hate them…especially the ones that suck royally!
First thing I didn’t like was the Rs. 140 I shelled out for watching a film I had absolutely no expectations from. All news and entertainment channels have been raving about this one…even I remember working on it briefly when the movie had just hit the screens. But let’s get real…I thought. A sequel to Koi Mil Gayaa?? …A film that should have been categorised as a strictly ‘children’s film’. Hrithik Roshan has good acting potential. But Rakesh Roshan wasn’t fair to his son’s talent in that one. He really made him overact to the point of making me almost pull out my hair in desperation. We have to seriously do something about our stereotypical depiction of mentally retarded/ill/handicapped [whatever the term is…Sorry, I’m not sure] children. It’s despicable of us to portray them like this in mass media.
Anyway, the movie resembled ET. Kids of this generation must have liked it but for those of us who were born in the late seventies and eighties, the original ET was the big thing…a childhood fascination come alive [on screen]. Even the special effects in Koi Mil Gayaa were not that effective but I must admit…better than in most other Hindi movies.
But then in 2006, you see… “Is it a bird…a man…No, it’s (desi) Superman!!” Krrish starts with Hrithik Jr. and grandma Rekha in the pristine hills of some remote village in the North. Grandma is trying to save her little boy [with supernatural powers courtesy Jadoo] from the big bad world. Super boy grows up to be Super man, free like the wind and strong like the mountain rock. Then comes his ladylove Priyanka Chopra and woos him out of the safe cocoon of high mountains to congested high-rise buildings of Singapore. And then trouble begins…
Things I like about the movie
Hrithik is back to being a mature actor…very little overacting…by Indian standards. And I congratulate him for the immense training he must have gone through to execute those action sequences with panache. The highlights of the film are, without doubt, the action scenes and special effects! I was pleasantly surprised to see that at least for once, great action sequences were not a monopoly of Hollywood flicks. It’s not that such scenes haven’t been attempted in Hindi films before but they have all ended up looking sadly amateurish and fake. Except one tiny scene, everything looks almost perfect to the T. Rakesh Roshan has spent a fortune…and he has spent it WELL! Kudos to action director Tony Ching Siu-Tung and special effects guys Mark Kolbe and Craig Mumma. Also kudos to stunt doubles, if any.
Beware: This film is not for people who despise Shaolin-style action…I love intelligent films but I’m also a big fan of action films… the Bruce Lee types as well as the Hollywood ones. For those who like action films…please don’t see a cheap version pirated version at home…besides piracy being a crime, you also won’t enjoy the film because of its poor quality. Though find a cheaper cinema hall…Rs. 140 was a tad too much…
Things the film could have done without
Melodrama melodrama melodrama…!!! Fine, the plot had to have a personal angle blah blah but more action scenes next time, please!
And not so much make-up on Rekha’s face, for God’s sake…NO!
Priyanka could have done a little more than be chirpy…she’s gorgeous and she was the turning point of the film…the story starts because of her effect on Hrithik…when are we going to ever give our actresses substantial roles? She did have one or two inspiring scenes there though.
Terrible music…there was nothing foot tapping or melodious about it! And if there’s anything that spoils the mood of the action sequences is the background score. Observe Western/Eastern action flicks…the music creates the mood of the scene to a great extent.
In conclusion, the film is worth a watch…though the romance dominates a part of the plot, it’s a welcome change from the mushy films we are churning out these days…especially those Karan Johar kinds…
Happy Cine-going!