One would compare, right? So did i. But it’s incomparable in every which way.
Sad but true, Amitabh was evil personified...and did a great flicking-of-tongue
bit, which could either repulse or fascinate you. RGV needs a makeover as a
director and should truly let sleeping SHOLAYs lie where they belong...in a
glorious history of Indian cinema. He has failed rather miserably at recreating
anything but history. A very wrong move to end up one’s nth marriage
anniversary on we realised.
Let’s
take a short stroll through the movie. THe characters are totally miscast for
starters....unfortunately, since RGV has liberally sprinkled salt and pepper
and sugar and spice and everything that’s not so nice in the scenes, the choice
of Ajay Devgan (who looks fitter than ever before with his lean and mean
abs) as Hero (ooh la la) instead of a Veeru, and wooden Prashant Raj (new
entrant) as a Raj instead of a Jai couldn’t have been a worse case for
putting out any possible screen fire. There is absolutely no chemistry or
buddiness between the two. That is only the beginning. Nisha Kothari as
Ghungroo (yet another ooh la la!) comes across as a sorry mixture of a Marathi
lass from the jhuggis and a tapori and someone who’s trying too hard. Her
figure on display may be all the glory of a model’s statistics, but one
doesn’t see the spunk or innocence of Basanti anywhere closely. Poor kid. A
song is thrown in for good measure to further our impression that this, after
all, is not an out and out clone of the earlier Sholay, and believe you me, you
sometimes (during the screening) wish it were!!
Babban
versus Gabbar - sorry Mr Big B, but evil underworld Don pitted against the most
perfect Daku of all times, you don’t stand a chance. Yes, he’s done a fabulous
job and even overdone it in many a scene, but the whole film is neither here
nor there. With an extra evil eye and perfectly done scar across his nose, Amitabhji - due respect, is in full drama form and filmi to the hilt. That’s that. We need or expect more from Big B, since he’s so big, right?
There is absolutely no laughs drawn from a hugely misdirected Rajpal Yadav who does a complete pudding of Jagdeep. His voice change was as unnecessary as his existence in the movie, in the current avatar. An otherwise brilliant comic actor, tch, tch, what a waste of so many talents....apart from the newcomer. The movie is minus humour unlike Sholay which had its rocking moments, unforgettable and still tickle our funny bone as we reminisce. It wasn’t all dhishum-dhishum, good versus bad...there was so much more.
We can’t not mention Sushmita Sen who’s so not with it cast along with Prashant Raj. Onscreen chemistry nonexistent, blank looks exchanged do their scenes completely in. THe Holi song wouldn’t even reach the bottom of the charts.\ color\u003d\"#663366\">After the above tirade on the lack of anything in the movie, let me make up by talking about MohanLal. Despite his ’subtle’ malayali accent, he’s brilliant and if the film were to be salvaged, which beyond the shred of a doubt cannot happen in a decade or more, it would be because of the restrain and elan with which this gentleman from Kerala has essayed his role- competing with Sanjeev Kumar. He’s zimply superb!
After all this I don’t suppose
we need to delve more deeply into the story, which in any case is less than a
subtle copy of the earlier SHOLAY which ran for over three years in a single
theatre. AAG is as appropriate a name as they come, because what one precisely
wants to do is burn the copies of the movie. If you think that’s an exaggerated
opinion, please do go to the theaters yourself and refute this if you can.
Naturally the film has to still be running.
Do let me know if i’ve done
enough damage to RGV’s AAG along with his reputation as a Dream Factory
director..thanks.