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Movie Review: KRANTIVEER-THE REVOLUTION by TARAN ADARSH
Jun 26th
By Taran Adarsh, June 25, 2010 – 15:59 IST
Raising a strong voice against the system, corrupt netas, dishonest cops, fraudulent land sharks and the corrupt practices in general has been a fav subject of dream merchants in Bollywood. Mehul Kumar’s KRANTIVEER [Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia] is best remembered, among other things, for Nana’s fiery performance and his outburst in the finale, when he’s about to be hanged in public. I distinctly recall, the single screens [there weren't multiplexes then] reverberated with ceetees and taalis when Nana delivered those acidic lines.
| BY BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COM |
KRANTIVEER – THE REVOLUTION remains faithful to the core issue. This time, it’s Nana and Dimple’s screen daughter Jahan who takes the onus of fighting the politicians, land sharks and corporate honchos who take the common man for a royal ride. That’s not all, Jahan even ‘awakens’ a harassed housewife who is assaulted in full public view by her errant husband. Quite a hothead!
KRANTIVEER worked for various reasons, but a strong reason was it being amongst the early films to raise a voice against injustice and malpractices. Post KRANTIVEER, there has been a barrage of films that have followed a similar path. That’s why KRANTIVEER – THE REVOLUTION, despite the right intentions, doesn’t stand out. However, the provocative dialogue and the reference to 26/11 do catch your attention in its second half.
The young daughter of the man responsible for the last revolution, Pratap [Nana Patekar], is now wielding the power of media as a fearless journalist. Roshni has inherited not only the courage and sting of her legendary father, but also the spirited lingo and the indomitable style.
Roshni acts as a pivot of the revolution and gets along her determined neighbour Vishal [Sameer Aftab] and college mates Uday [Harsh Rajput] and Goldie [Aditya Singh Rajput]. The story takes all of them on a mission to rid the present society of the evils, a revolution for cleaning the system.
While the plotline is easy to guess, the execution of a few sequences do make a difference. Veteran Mehul Kumar handles the plot like a complete expert, more so towards the second hour, which has some engrossing moments. Sachin-Jigar’s music is okay, with the birthday song being the pick of the lot.
Jahan delivers a fiery performance and remains true to her character. She does a wonderful job. Sameer Aftab is decent. Aditya and Harsh are okay. Govind Namdeo and Mukesh Tiwari enact their villainous parts with ease. Ashok Samarth stands out in the confrontation sequence after the interval. Farida Jalal [as Jahan's granny] is as usual. Hiten Paintal is competent. Aman Verma plays the lecherous corporate bigwig well. Ranjeet, Darshan Jariwala, Avtar Gill and Suhasini Mulay feature in brief roles.
On the whole, KRANTIVEER – THE REVOLUTION is an ordinary fare, which is for the hardcore masses.
Movie Review: KRANTIVEER-THE REVOLUTION BY FENIL SETA
Jun 26th
A sequel has to be better or more impactful or at least equally powerful as the first part. Sadly, Krantiveer-The Revolution fails to reach the level of its predecessor, Krantiveer. There’s nothing fresh and hard-hitting about the film although it deals with lots of topical issues.
The story of the movie: Roshni (Jahan Bloch), daughter of the fierce and legendary Pratap Narayan Tilak (Nana Patekar) has inherited not only her father’s courage but also the spirited lingo and indomitable style. She joins a news channel and like her father, she is trying to awaken the people by exposing corruption at all levels. Helping in her mission are her college mates Goldie (Aditya Singh Rajput), Uday (Harsh Rajput) and her new friend Vishal (Samir Aftab). How they fight evil and attempt to rid society of corruption and other immoral practices is what the film is all about.
The problem with Krantiveer-The Revolution is that it doesn’t offer anything new. The builder-politician nexus, communal harmony, inefficient police, sting operation, terrorism, love triangle and other such issues are attempted a zillion times. Moreover, there aren’t any significant twists and turns in the film. The way the protagonist (Jahan) and her buddies so easily defeat the villains seemed too unbelievable.
Certain portions in the film seemed too vague. A wannabe tries to act too fresh with our heroine, she takes her to police station but the cop refuses to file a complaint. No explanations given! The angry girl then takes out of police station and bashes the guy while the cop just looks on! Then the armyman (Samir Aftab) suddenly decides to quit army on frivolous grounds and immediately becomes a news reporter since his friend (Hiten Paintal) is running the news channel!
On the flipside, certain individualistic scenes are well treated. The scene where Roshni provokes a wife to fight her devil husband was novel but it was overdramatized. Then the entire track on communalism was effective. The film even deals with 26/11 issue and also shows the actual footage of the incident. Thankfully, it doesn’t make a mockery of the episode.
The film was on Jahan Bloch’s shoulders and she delivers a powerful performance. The fiery look on her face and her impactful dialogue delivery compliments her role of a brave young lady who’s not to be messed with. Also, it’s good to see a heroine in such kind of a role as it brings some freshness. But why does she have a laugh like Rahul Mahajan?! Since the director is her father, her love interest (Samir Aftab) doesn’t get to be intimate with Jahan! But all in all, a great debut!
Samir Aftab, who was the only good performer in the last year’s dud Shadow (remember?), does a brilliant job here again. He is a sincere actor and deserves to be seen in better films. Aditya Singh Rajput and Harsh Rajput are good in their supporting roles. Mukesh Tiwari and Govind Namdeo are experts in playing villainous roles and perform with ease in the film. Ashok Samarth as Samir Aftab’s father leaves a mark. Aman Varma plays a playboy corporate honcho who gets secretly filmed while he asks for sexual favours to a newbie in return for a job! Wonder why Aman played such an autobiographical role! Farida Jalal, Ranjeet, Hiten Paintal, Darshan Jariwala, Suhasini Mulay and Avtar Gill play their part well.
Sachin-Jigar’s music is fairly good for such kind for a film. Their background score works far better. Amit Khan and Mehul Kumar’s dialogues are powerful and acidic. Certain dialogues leave a mark, especially the one on corporate creating havoc in Bollywood! Mehul Kumar’s story was very ordinary with nothing new or interesting. His direction somehow saves the film. He still has it in him to come up with powerful flicks like Krativeer and Tirangaa only if he is aided with good scripts.
On the whole, Krantiveer-The Revolution is a bland and forgettable flick!
My rating- * ½ out of 5!
BO gets ‘Chiggy Wiggy’ over festive collection
Oct 22nd
SHOW ME THE MONEY: Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan and Akshay Kumar; (top) Lara Dutta in the film
Huge opening adds to the celebrations
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; October 22, 2009)
The extended Diwali weekend has proved to be a boon for last week’s Bollywood releases. Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd’s underwater thriller Blue that opened this Festival of Lights, benefitted big time because it raked in a huge initial in the celebration period.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says, “The promotion and publicity helped it to get a grand opening.” He also believes that since India hadn’t seen any thrillers involving underwater action sequences, this proved to be the USP of the film.
Uday Singh, CEO, PVR Pictures, says, “We opened wide… and the first four days’ collections have been extremely encouraging.” Uday feels that Blue is a large screen spectacle and the audience is taken in by the sheer opulence of the product.
The makers of the film are upbeat, too, because they say that the opening weekend collection is one of the best initials an Akshay Kumar film has taken. “The Khiladi has proved once again that he is one of the biggest Bollywood stars,” says a leading distributor.
International pop superstar Kylie Minogue’s ditty Chiggy Wiggy with Akshay has also found its share of fans. “Blue has hit the jackpot,” is Taran’s opinion.
It is estimated that the film’s collection has benefitted by the sheer magnitude of the number of screens it hit — over 2,000 worldwide. And with no new major releases lined up this week, Blue still holds viewers’ fancy.
meena.iyer@timesgroup.com
