GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN: Where Pain replaces the Punch! [1.5/5]

Nothing hurts more than a second-rate sequel to a classic. I am not being unreasonable here with mediocre script, sloppy direction and forgettable performances; they come and go like seasons in Bollywood but how you can be so careless and recreational while even trying to replicate the magic of one of the most powerful ‘anti-system’ revenge dramas on Indian screens. If I would love to remember Rajkumar Santoshi’s GHAYAL for its sheer intensity in the hovering emotions that could turn a common man into a roaring, raging, rebellious bull, GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN for me is just a poor example of outdated, formulated and shamefully flawed filmmaking.

Ajay Mehra [Sunny Deol] has served his 16 years’ sentence for killing Balwant Rai [Amrish Puri] and now runs Satykaam- a news agency that dares to stand up against injustice of all kinds. Satykaam is more of an organized anti-crime movement with a technically sound work-base buried under ground and hundreds of activated members flaunting their ‘I am a Satykaam’ badges and stickers. Ajay is seen fighting with his reminiscences from the troubled past [in a set of weirdly conceived and poorly executed graphic visuals] until his friend-cum-admirer Joe D’Souza [Om Puri from the original cast] gets murdered. The war is inevitable between a powerful businessman [Narendra Jha] on one side and the man himself with Dhai kilo ka haath and four youngsters [They have captured the crime accidentally] on the other. And the whole city will stand still to watch the grand show.

Sunny Deol gets a deserving applaud for setting his story in a present day. The timeline of the events looks credible. Ajay Mehra has aged, but not in his anger management. The corrupt syndicate between the business world, politics and media is hinted well. One such easygoing news channel has office walls painted with famous Bollywood dialogues. I have no idea who’s on the receiving end. But that’s the only thing positive about the film. Once he decides to build a gripping story around all this, he gradually loses his sense of authenticity to the conveniently bad filmmaking.

Some films are a visual treat; GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN is a visual [graphics] disaster. Imagine Sunny Deol banging his head on the wall with exactly 5 visual windows playing old footage of GHAYAL around his head! The pain is so transmittable, I tell you. The editing jerks could be an additional chapter in any film school syllabus. At one, Sunny is trapped in a traffic jam only to appear in the very next scene controlling a hijacked helicopter. Don’t leave the theatre if it offences your intellect; wait until he rams into a skyscraper abode of the villain. Now, you can.

One of the very few watchable moments has Narendra Jha playing the influential businessman and a father in a catch-22 situation. He is no typical villain who loves to share every move with his family. He hides his drink when his little daughter shows up. He gets worried as a parent when his drug-addicted son commits murder. He is no Amrish Puri to Gulshan Grover or Dan Dhanoa. Jha proves his fitness for the part but the writing is so one-dimensional, you only have sympathies for him. Sunny Deol directs himself and makes sure he sets the screen on fire especially with the action sequences. Watching him entering into a frame running towards camera in slow-motion is the only part I can relate to the Sunny Deol of GHAYAL. For the rest, he doesn’t bring anything electrifying or amply satisfying. In fact, the scenes showing his emotional outbursts are amusingly testing.

Overall, GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN lacks the punch. The same punch that GHAYAL still manages to knock its viewers out even after 26 years in a row. The man had his own share of stardom with the film. The film deserved a better tribute from the man. [1.5/5]

PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO: A nice break from double-meaning jokes but still not enough to relish as we expect! [2/5]

Expectations don’t always ripe in a healthy product. Sometimes, they just fall flat on your face. Sometimes, they go hysterically wrong to create humour. Sadly, Rajkumar Santoshi’s PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO belongs to the previous category. Santoshi earlier tried and expected to re-create his classic comic caper ANDAZ APNA APNA and ended up with a lesser product called AJAB PREM KI GAJAB KAHANI, this time he genuinely and visibly tries to replicate the success-story of APKGK but again…expectations don’t always ripe in a healthy product.

A single mother who wants his son to be an ‘imaandar’ police inspector but the son is more interested in rising as the new poster-boy of Bollywood and also doesn’t want to hurt his loving mother’s feelings. This may look old-school formulaic Bollywood story-line but trust me, it has the potential to make you smile & giggle at the comedy of errors it CAN create but it doesn’t. A comic book styled film that is filled with cartoon-ish caricatures [Saurabh Shukla as local don so resembles with Motu of Motu-patlu comics, skinny twinkling-eyed glam doll heroine, hero is so swift that when he fights all you can see is the blasting dust & dirt on the screen and a villain with a mission to destroy the world], why would need melodrama of emotional exploitation only to slower the pace and lower the amount of fun? I still don’t get it.

In a hospital where the mother is fighting for her life, when the son is informed as some Dr. Vinod khanna is asking for him, all this movie-fanatic son can come with is, “vinod khanna doctor kab bann gaye?” He sure is very comfortable in his dream world of movies even in such emotional times. This is the most hilarious joke it has and I loved it. In other, when someone passes remark on Mukesh Tiwari playing the villain that “who’s this Jackie Shroff look-alike?” you really find it hard to stop giggling as you already had thought the exactly same of his get-up.

And how can I forget that one of the most enjoyable cameos in recent! Santoshi’s favorite Salman khan appears as himself like he did in APKGK but this time, he’s in full form. He also hints at the ANDAZ APNA APNA sequel in process. Who knows…someday we will be lucky enough to see that!! For the rest, writing only lows down the standard. Though it is a good relief to see a clean comedy that doesn’t rely on adult double-meaning one-liners, but jokes here are either forced or too flat to laugh out loud. Screenplay also doesn’t give a constant pleasurable experience.

On the merits, it is a pleasant surprise to see yesteryear actress PADMINI KOLHAPURE making a comeback in Hindi films [she was there in Marathi cinema always]. As the overtly done typical loud Indian filmy mother, she does full justice to her given part. We sure want to see more of her in more meaty roles]. Ileana D’Cruze, after BURFI, made a lot of promises as a competent actress but this is not something she would expect to create a buzz for. She is there and mostly in some beautifully picturised songs. But the film belongs to Shahid Kapoor. His dedication, his effort shows in every single scene. He does all he could to make you laugh & cry. I wish writing had been really a little kind to him to support his commitment. Poor fellow!

With Anjum Rajbali & K K Raina, Rajkumar Santoshi once was known for his crispy-tight-punchy writing and screenplay that holds you for the most of the times in theaters  It seems I am talking about some gone lost filmmaker of past. I hope he comes back with his old charm soon but as of now, PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO is not the Rajkumar Santoshi Film we want. It’s uninspiring, exasperatingly lengthy, formulaic and less funny than we expected. Watch it if you are Shahid Kapoor Fan, you won’t get disappointed! [2/5]