Ghai’s no show

Dated beyond redemption: this love come revenge saga spanning over 150 minutes of celluloid space and time leaves you more tired than curious or happy. It carries many of the characteristics of a Ghai product minus the magic that once was. It is, however, not so much that he has changed as have his times. The song and dance, the grandeur, the heavily orchestrated music, the dramatics, the good bye to logic, all of these facets are available and in plenty.

Hidden in the hills of Koshambo with its people in seeming peace with itself. The rural fold are busy with songs in their lips and dreams in their eyes. A bit of eve teasing is sufficient to anger Kaanchi (Mishti- the latest M from the Ghai school). Well supplied with expletives and profanities she is ever willing to take on the world. Romantically involved with Binda (Kartik Tiwari) she has every one’s approval. Marriage is just round the corner. The one brewing crisis in this idyllic scenario are the Kakra brothers: Shyam (Mithun Chakraborthy) a political heavy weight and Jhoomar Babu (Rishi Kapoor), just heavy weight who has a business proposition of tourism in the said hills. Needless the bad guys have the support of a whole lot- a near army full of guys and gals. The filmy bad guys in attendance have all those characteristics of the bad guys: muscle roving eye unkempt faces and bulging bodies.

Sushant (Rishabh Sinha), the scion of the corrupt and unaccountable of the business families also takes a fancy for Kaanchi. So here we go: the spirited heroine, in keeping with times a hero with his politics right, the villain backed up by money and power and unruly emotions. The love triangle is in place. As old as the hills –literally. In fact the script keeps even and sober pace till Ghai decides that things have to get moving. So we have Sushant metamorphosing from a dull boring guy into a vile filled villain. So the fairy tale gives way to the vendetta saga. Kaanchi adorns the new avatar. She comes to Mumbai, meets up with old friend and police officer Ratanlal Bagula (Chandan Roy Sarkar) and plants herself in the house of Shyam with ease. Soon she unfolds her strategies and lo and behold avenging the all powerful is as simple as biting into a fruit. Events move from one intriguing plot to another and the vice filled power brokers turn naïve sitting ducks.

The script has just too much of the déjà vu element to warrant any particular interest. It is sad to see Mithun ham for the whole two hours. Will someone at Mukta Arts update the filmmaker with what the audience wants these days and how long is their attention span? Just Mithun is enough to put you away. Rishi Kapoor on the other hand finds a role that shows him as evil but digestible and acceptable evil. As usual he delivers. However, the ‘Karz’ star has seen better days at Mukta Arts. Rishabh Sinha is lost in his many hair styles and weird beards. As is obvious the film’s mainstay is Mishti. Her performance is just about alright. With an uncanny resemblance to Mandakini (while hero suffers a similar disadvantage who looks like Zayeed Khan), she suffers an obvious disadvantage. Well, she attempts to be a cross between the Aishwariya of ‘Taal’ and Mahima of ‘Pardes’ and lands up being a lost Mandakini. She does have screen presence and projects a degree of professionalism. However, this ‘Kaanchi’ is fragile and brittle.