Karan Razdan’s Umar makes an attempt to come across as a hard hitting saga, but disappoints.
This film revolves around three characters - Iqbal Khan (Kader Khan), Chanderkant Mehta (Prem Chopra) and Rajpal Singh (Satish Kaushik) who live in London. They are insensitively treated by their children. All three are constantly humiliated and insulted, leaving them totally defeated.
Into their tedious lives enters Shahshank (Jimmy Shergill), who has learnt to respect his elders. Treating the senior citizens with care, affection and respect, Shahshank quickly finds a small place in their hearts. The twist comes when Shashank falls in love with Sapna who happens to be the daughter of a rich businessman.But there is a slip between a cup and lip!
Umar is a mishmash of several films. The feud between the parent-child is reminiscent of Baghban and it also bears a striking resemblance to Santaan
The first few reels of the flick are indeed engaging. Director succeeds in presenting several interesting moments at the very start. The sequences between Kader and his son are moving. Ditto for the scenes between 3 lead players .
The narrative gathers momentum with Jimmy emerging on the scene and the interval point raises hopes for a dramatic second half.
Alas! The post-interval portions belie the expectations. And that’s mainly because screenplay writer has tried to incorporate too many tracks in the plot.Post-interval, you see the Jimmy-Shenaaz one-sided romance, then the murder, then heavy dose of sermonising!. Too complicated!
Director Karan deserves marks for making an effort to come up with something different, but he is handicapped by a weak screenplay. Even the climax is an absolute letdown and seems incomplete.
Music is poor .Cinematography is routine. Dialogues are just about okay. The background music is excellent.
Satish Kausik is efficient, as always. Jimmy seems to have a massive SRK hang-up and he messes up his role entirely. Shenaaz[Ishk Vishk] still needs to hone her acting skills.Prem Chopra is a first rate. Kader leaves a mark .
All up Umar is saddled by a weak script and will not find many takers.