The K-words are in demand this week. If Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider dares to tackle Kashmir in a new light, Siddharth Anand’s Bang Bang , which is being promoted through the ‘do you dare’ campaign, resorts to the safety of the good-old Kohinoor to put together a heist story that is driven by clichés and stereotypes. Early in the film, Danny, playing a ganglord offers a valiant officer (Jimmy Sheirgill) pizza with extra cheese as his last wish. As the film progresses one realises the cheesy offer was the sign of things to come.
An official remake of Tom Cruise’s “Knight And Day”, it is all sound and style with a shallow core and makes no bones about it. Siddharth knows who he is catering to and goes all out. The makers have put some sensible minds like Abbas Tyrewala and Sujoy Ghosh to lend some substance to the flimsy script and they do the job of keeping the mind of the target audience away from the fact that the script is just an excuse for placing products that Hrithik and Katrina endorse, and in between slip into some spectacular stunts to justify the big budget. They have sewn the holes with as much care as Hrithik stiches his bullet wounds in the film. A throwback to the ’70s it shows that a section of Bollywood is only investing in shooting budgets.
The leap of faith expects us to believe that Dehradun experiences heavy snow fall. Perhaps the director feels that the only thing worth competing with in “Haider” is snow.
It pretends to get serious when Hrithik decides to settle scores with Katrina. She gave him a lecture on living in the moment in “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”. It is his turn to return the favour on the importance of ek din .
What saves the film is its comic book tone which should appeal to the kids. Made in “Ek Tha Tiger” kind of space, where the lead players don’t take themselves too seriously, the dialogues become unintentionally funny and the inside jokes keep the narrative from falling into a rut.
The casting of Katrina Kaif as the damsel in distress saved by the hero seems like a masterstroke but she is no Cameron Diaz. Playing a dumb belle also requires acting talent but Kaif continues to be the book that wants to be judged by its cover or the Barbie doll that wants to be judged by her smile.
The action sequences are truly spectacular and finally Hrithik Roshan has got a film that matches the scale of his larger than life persona. Unlike Kaif, Hrithik gels with the tone and it is hard to take one’s eyes off him.
So it seems implausible to see him as a thief without disguises but it is not a film to ask hows and whys. It is the kind of film where you sit back and count his abs, his miraculous jumps and pick destinations to visit next summer.
Towards the end, the movie is reduced to ‘drag-drag’, but by then it has done enough to give the already festive audience something to cheer about.
Also read : >Sudhish Kamath's review here
