Pukar
Released on: February 04, 2000
Synopsis
Pukar is a stylish espionage thriller and certainly had carved a new niche in Hindi cinema for international standard action sequences and background score. However Pukar is not a perfect specimen and has many flaws.
Plot
The story begins after the aftermath of the Kargil war, we find out that the terrorists have penetrated deeper into India. Jai (Anil Kapoor) an army officer is sent on a mission to capture a dangerous terrorist, Abhrush (Danny) who has kidnapped a minister, he is successful and the terrorist is sent into captivity. The terrorist is frequently moved between locations and the information of this location has been allotted to Jai in the form of a secret code.
Jai meets miss India - cum - super model Pooja (Namrata Shirodkar) at a party and they both fall in love. However Anjali (Madhuri dixit) who has been longing for Jai’s affections and attention and is heart broken whence she find out about their relationship. Anjali will do anything for Jai and thus the terrorist organisation incite her in stealing the secret code from Jai, however Anjali does not know the severity or the consequences of retrieving this code. After this leads to Jai’s suspension and his life deteriorates.
From the secret code the terrorist next location change is known and the terrorist is saved.. Now the terrorist plans on spreading his terror and blowing up his main target - What is this main target? Will he ever succeed? Will Jai prove his innocence, Will Anjali ever tell him?
Watch it and find out
Plot review:
Pukar is a brave attempt by the director and his efforts show in the remarkable quality of the film and the fresh plot adopted, however Pukar does leave a lot to be desired and does go astray in many portions of the film. The story has been told very well and the characters have also been developed well. However the plot does suffer from inappropriate song and dance sequences which can be seemed separable from the movie itself, the movie also can do with some editing as it drags after the intermission.
The beginning half is faced paced and up to there the story telling is virile, interesting and appealing, however most of the song and dance sequences are in this half , and their presence in the movie seems unnatural and negates the story slightly.
The 2nd half however drags slightly , this is where it is shown how Jai’s life slowly deteriorates and how his loved one disown him. Its goes on a little longer than it should have and bores slightly. However some very quality action sequences are also in this half.
Many logical mistakes have occurred in the story -
Jai’s character seems to be ill defined, obviously to flow in with the romantic aspect of the movie. Jai is an army officer, however he does not seem strict or have typical commando qualities, on the contrary he’s a lover, singer and dancer in this movie ;)
Anjali finds out the secret code number from a file that is placed on a desk. In real circumstances such a file would be kept in a safe, guarded with vicious dogs and hidden death lasers for good measure, - or then again locked in a drawer. However such an important file that has such crucial information on a dangerous terrorist is kept on a desk, would that happen in real life, I sure hope not!
The scenes between Jai and Anjali(Madhuri dixit) are the highlights of this movie, their chemistry on screens looks very convincing and natural and the emotions exchanged between each other project an overpowering hold on the viewer.
Overall Pukar is a emotional roller coaster with stylish and thrilling action sequences and I urge you to take the ride.
Plot rating - 7/10
Technical review
Pukar’s technical aspects are truly ground breaking and they are even better than some of the films churned out this year(2001). However in some cases it looks like an extension of a classic Indianan Jones adventure, except less adventure.
Initially I was disappointed with technical aspects after seeing the promo’s I was convinced Pukar will have some very flashy title animations. Ok ok ok, so its just the films introductory credits but I see films as a complete cinematic product, I mean the titles were so boring, plain old white text. Fortunately the rest of the movie has good production and technical values.
The action sequences are truly international standard and very exciting and thrilling to view. In particular, the sky diving, helicopter chase and the scene where they capture the terrorist. The cinematography is marvellous, the action sequences are extremely thrilling and visually appealing to look at. The aerial photography in some of the songs is breathtaking and really make that song worthwhile to see.
There are some special effects and they are very good, the virtual helicopter looked ultra realistic, then again it was probably a real helicopter? If that was special effects, then I really most congratulate the people who did the special effects for it.
The editing is very crisp and the scenes flow in quite well, minding most of the songs of course. (Drags a little in the 2nd half) . The background score in some instances in the movie seems like its been taken from an Indiana Jones film and it does not fit the mood of the scene. Pukar is tackling a very serious issue of terrorism and most of the movie involves a lot of intense drama, so putting in the Indiana style adventure music during the action scenes sort of mocks the entire concept of Pukar.
Technical rating - 9/10
Music review
Unfortunately I can not include this section, because it exceeds the character limit. However overall the music is excellent but flows artificially in the narrative.
Music rating - 8/10
Screenplay review:
There is at least one place where I can award maximum marks and that is the performances. They are absolutely fantastic from almost everyone.
Screenplay rating - 10/10
Summary:
Plot rating: 7/10
Technical rating: 9/10
Music: 8/10
Screenplay: 10/10
Overall rating: 8.5/10 or 85%
All in all, Pukar is stylish espionage thriller with excellent production values, great music and some good thrills and you will find it highly entertaining. Its worth watching at least once.
This was a 6 page review, so I had to cut out major parts, im sorry I could not include it all’’