ROCKY HANDSOME: The Rock that doesn’t Roll! [2/5]

I hate this when critics label an actor as a piece of ‘furniture’ in his said professional work. This is really demeaning and an act of character-assassination of serious intensity, I believe. But then, what adjectives could you use for someone who has precisely and only a couple of expressions to showcase? A rock, if not some furniture? Well, it goes well with the title of the film and also describes the neatly oiled and chiseled body of John Abraham playing the main protagonist in the film. Trust me; he is so unshakeable, unflinching and immovable (for all the wrong reasons) that at some point, you might outburst your patience with ‘bhai, kuch toh acting kar!’ Nishikant Kamat directed ROCKY HANDSOME too, has exactly the same kind of after-effect on its viewers. You are left unshaken, unmoved and cold as a rock, again for all the wrong reasons.  

Copied frame to frame from Korean blood-porn THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (2010), ROCKY HANDSOME revolves around a mysterious pawnshop owner [JOHN ABRAHAM] and his unusual bonding with his 7-year old neighbor Nayomi [DIYA CHALWAD]. The tryst of Nayomi’s drug-addict mother [NATHALIA KAUR] with the deadly sharks in the game lands them in an unwanted situation only our mysterious man can get them off from. And then starts a hysterical action adventure having some amazingly choreographed hand-to-hand martial arts combats, knife fights, blood & gore action-sequences and a couple of peppy, foot-tapping, well-shot item numbers! Sounds good? Well, some of it but not entirely. There is always a sense of disbelief floating around throughout the film. It’s like visiting those arty-farty exhibitions where everything looks neat & clean and presentable but you could never make any connections with them as most of it was just an imitation.

I am not sure if the film is an official remake of its Korean original but even then, Kamat known for remaking DRISHYAM in Hindi last year, never actually bothers to use his right side of brain while recreating it. Most of the props used in the film are shamelessly and leisurely gets modeled on the original ones e.g. the noticeable pouch to carry drugs. Kamat’s unimaginative approach is largely overshadowed by stylized action-pieces and a typical cinematography relying always on slow-motion tiger walks in the rain, red-tinted lighting and continuous shots during fights (An impressive one has John running towards a window, jumping on to it, breaking it and making a safe landing on the ground through it…all in one continuous shot). The ear-defying background score is another run-of-the mill tactic Kamat never shows any problem with but I truly wish if the control would have been in viewer’s hands.

ROCKY HANDSOME has a cute looking kid in its major star-cast. Diya is sure a talent to watch out for but the dialogues are so grave and methodical, it doesn’t sync in well with the innocence Diya brings on screen. Kamat himself plays the main villain but could never create any impression with that. Teddy Maurya, despite being a good actor, settles with a regular portrayal of the done-to-death character of a drug-sniffing maniac. Sharad Kelkar owns most of his performance with the right kind of attitude and confidence in him. For John Abraham, read the first para of this article again. There is nothing more to add.

At the end, ROCKY HANDSOME strengthens your believe in ‘the other side of the coin’ theory. For every KAPOOR & SONS and NEERJA, there is always a ROCKY HANDSOME or a JAZBAA. You can call it the balancing-act of Bollywood. Love it, hate it but you can’t ignore its existence. It’s a copy & paste (Ctrl C + Ctrl V) job better left to find a place in your trash bin, soon after watching it if you had already managed to watch! [2/5]   

DRISHYAM: The hunt for a good thriller ends here! A remake? So what?? [3.5/5]

A remake should be judged by the merits its predecessor had seized in and the flaws of its own while recreating something that has already been positioned as a yardstick; not once, not twice but successively four times in a row. For that matter, DRISHYAM directed by Nishikant Kamat manages to maintain the legacy of providing one of the most satisfying thrillers in recent Bollywood. The road ahead is full of unanticipated twists and turns but you won’t feel shaky as the grip is mostly airtight and the ride is pretty much smooth in terms of staying honest to the subject. DRISHYAM, despite a few slack strokes of imperfections in various fields remains a desirable thriller for the most in its 2 hour 43 minutes long duration; and that’s an achievement in itself.

Vijay Salgaonkar [Ajay Devgn] is an almost illiterate middle-class family man with a questionably ‘decked-up all the time’ wife [Shriya Sharan, a complete misfit] and two lovely daughters by his side. Running a local cable network for his living, Salgaonkar is a street-smart fellow who loves to learn from the movies he watches at his office in leisure. One dark night, his family accidentally falls for a crime that could lead them all to the pit of death but a good family man would never let that happen. He has to stand like an immovable wall between his family and the law-enforcement powers stage-managed by a strict officer and a desperate mother [the terrific Tabu]. Rest is the cat-mouse chase between the two, packed with some real nail-biting moments of anxiety, twists of terrific nature and an extended climax that is more rewarding than the whole film.

DRISHYAM’s biggest force is in Jeethu Joseph’s taut writing. A story that has all the emotional strings attached to the thrills of the undying efforts of covering up the patches of a perfect crime! A screenplay that doesn’t leave much to complain about and a couple of seasoned performances to top it all! The first part takes its own time to set things up in their designed places. This is the part where you also feel crabby and argumentative about the casting of its lead. The innocence and honesty Mohanlal carried of a middle-aged middle-class family-guy in its first and original Malayalam version are often missed here by large margin. No doubt, Ajay brings a certain kind of intensity in his performance but the vulnerability of an illiterate small-time cable-operator is something that he lacks big time. The camerawork by the latest talk-of the-town Avinash Arun is soothing, pleasing and sometimes, old-school too when needed. (Is ‘the boys diving in the water’ his trademark shot? His last 3 films KILLA, MASAAN & now DRISHYAM give it a strong word).

And then, Tabu enters into the frame and the screen suddenly starts breathing its life. She, as the strong-headed, rough and dictatorial police official and as the exposed mother fighting with the loss of his son, beautifully gets into the skin of the character. She undoubtedly is the most charming thing about the film. In rest, Shriya disappoints manly with her irrationally ‘out of the place’ look. Rajat Kapoor shines in the crowd. Kamat as the director hardly throws anything new which wasn’t in the previous versions. But then, we can term this as the ‘blessing in disguise’ in favor of the film’s honesty intact.

Finally, the dearth of a good thriller in Bollywood has been filled with DRISHYAM. So what if the plot/story/screenplay has been adopted four more times before? Engaging, gripping, entertaining and emotionally charged up! Watch it, especially if you haven’t seen any of the previous versions! [My personal favorite is Mohanlal starrer in Malayalam] [3.5/5]