Is it just me or you also are reminded
of Leon The Professional( 1994)?
You’re still getting settled in your seat
while watching lovey-dovey wife
Rukshida( Shruti Haasan) pouting with
Kabir in Seychelles, and it begins
abruptly. The moment Kabir lands on a
car’s bonnet like a true Batman fan,
you know what you are up to.
Here’s a child who loves nail art, a club
dancer mother and a man with no
apparent history. Basically, a fast and
furious guy has stood up to the
dreaded traffickers for reasons
extremely personal, but can a
predictable, video game-inspired
actioner hold your attention for 130-
minutes? Looks like a daunting task
after the first 30 minutes.
There are moments when you see
director Kamat bringing out a
different side of the gangsters. In one
of the most captivating scenes of Rocky
Handsome, we see local don Maanto
sadistically slapping Kevin, and the
latter not flinching a bit. He spits blood
only after everybody leaves the scene
and the ordeal is over. The bad guy’s
grit is visible. But then, it all goes in
vein when too much focus gets attached
to choreographing a Kill Bil-style action
sequence with one person against the
whole army. And, you know how weird it
looks when in the middle of a showdown
everybody throws their weapon away
and resorts to a fistfight. They don’t
forget to tear apart their own shirts. In
short, masala takes over the centre-
stage.
Watch: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan
in Rocky Handsome trailer
Some slow motion long shots are worth
watching, especially those taken in the
rain. But how can these supplement for
the lack of a coherent theme?
Abraham’s Kabir is a silent and strong
guy who cannot paddle a rehashed film
forward just on his own. Madras Café
and Force gave him the chance to
explore a similar territory but those
roles were way more nuanced. Here, too
many players make his stroll bumpy.
Luke, Maantu and other over-the-top
gangsters simply stop you from taking
the proceedings seriously. Goa isn’t
Mexico.