Filmkraft allows an outsider to direct a movie under their banner, something not done since Krrazy 4 & Kites.
When this film was announced, it was a shocker for me, since have not seen any outside director score in Filmkraft, that too Sanjay Gupta, a man known for his inspired films which are more of style and colour.
The plot is exactly as revealed in the trailers. A sweet blind couple falls in love, marries and is struck with a big blow in their lives, leaving them shattered. Hrithik decides to seek revenge.
This is definitely one of Sanjay Gupta’s finest directions, no doubt. He has focussed more on the actor rather than the background music / scene colour and he has done a good job extracting some good performances. But he is let down by poor writing. The issue is that the film banks on the intelligence of Hrithik versus the might of the corrupt system, but in the end, everything is too simple and pat, with everything going exactly as planned, all to reveal the smart trick in Hrithik’s sleeve. But there are quite a few points in the film which stand out:
In any of the victims, the cops do not seem to be aware of the concept of forensic study, so there is never any search for blood / skin / nail marks etc. on the victims’ bodies which could be traced to the perpetrator; BMC mosquito repellants are never sprayed in the night; how come an under construction building site have not a single inhabitant with free access to our protagonist? Why would the powerful antagonist come alone to meet him while seeking revenge? Etc, etc.
So in a cleverly written storyline, the screenplay, especially in the revenge act, tends to be written only keeping cinematic liberties in mind. So whilst we are more than happy to accept the blind couple swaying away almost perfectly on Vishal Dadlani’s Bon Amour; who doesn’t love to see Hrithik dance?; the second half tends to fall, yet again.
Yami Gautam is good and does deliver a pretty matured performance in her ‘spirited’ character too. Rohit Roy is purely decent as the goon brother of a corporator, whilst Akhilendra Mishra and Suresh Menon are wasted; imagine Menon giving Hrithik a pack of protection for this first night and calling it ‘phugga’ ‘gubbare’? grow up guys.
Narendra Jha & Girish Kulkarni do add some spice as the indifferent cops but come across as rather detached from all the investigations.
Ronit Roy does leave a strong impact as Shelar the local corporator, his cold threats in his intro to the violent outburst, an impressive antagonist.
Hrithik is the one who saves the day with his earnest performance, yet again. Something not seen since Zindagi Milegi Na Dobaara. Yes, in the first half he does seem to miss certain nuances of the visually impaired character, but gets it 80% right and that is very good for the audiences. He manages to save the film from its weak and easy second half and that’s why you appreciate him more.
Sanjay Gupta does a fine job here, no doubt. Inspired by the South Korean film, Broken, he has adapted it very nicely and made a breezy romance out of it, but somewhere the second half syndrome and convenient writing, lets him down here.
RATING: 2.5/5
By: Yusuf Poonawala
