Tevar Movie Review : Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Manoj Bajpayee Director:Amit Sharma A pretty college-going girl catches the fancy of a Mathura politicians vicious brother. The latter wants to marry the girl, and like all self-respecting Bollywood baddies, will not take no for an answer. An Agra boy, no mean street-fighter himself, unwittingly gets in the way of the goons evil designs. Like all Hindi movie heroes, he will not back off once the die is cast no matter how dangerous it is. In the maddening mayhem that ensues, a riot of masala ingredients is willy-nilly hurled into the pot. So far so good. A well-meaning drifter, a beautiful damsel in distress, an evil man and a pulpy plot that throws them into conflict with each other could have added up to some harmless lowbrow entertainment of the kind that often yields instant box office returns. Hell hath no fury like a politician scorned. This stands true for the better part of India where every minister is a government unto himself. So you have Mathuras minister-cum-goonda Gajender Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) wooing collegian Radhika (Sonakshi Sinha). When she rejects his marriage proposal, he vows to get the girl by hook or by crook. Theres bound to be an Alpha male hero to rise against the archetypal villain. In comes Agra boy Pintu Shukla (Arjun Kapoor) - a combination of Rambo, Terminator and Salman Khan (so he says). The son of Shukla (Raj Babbar) the superintendent of police, Pintus wastrel existence gets meaning when his path crosses that of Radhika. From thereon, its one explosive ride between the hunter, the prey and the protector. Amit Sharmas Tevar, a remake of the Telugu hit Okkadu (2003), is over-a-decade-old wine served on a larger canvas. But one mustnt grudge the filmmaker for telling us an old story. After all, in the last decade, not much has changed in the political landscape of India. The Gajenders of the country do run a parallel government. So when murders are committed in broad daylight or the media is lynched by a mob, you have to just stand by and watch. Instead, you reserve those claps for Babbar and Bajpayee, who deliver class acts even in this milieu. Arjun is bombastic, his always likeable on screen, but the rugged persona that he assumes here - a combo, in the characters own words, of Rambo, Terminator and Salman Khan - is not up his street. The I am Superman, Salman ka fan act just doesnt work for him. Sonakshi, who does pretty much what she has been doing in the kind of action-oriented films that have become her forte, is hard pressed to rise above the din. Subrat Dutta as the henchman Kakdi shows that a good actor can do wonders even in a lesser role. The most interesting character in Tevar is the villain, not the least because of the measured manner in which the ever-dependable Manoj Bajpayee fleshes him out. He answers to the name of Gajendra Singh and is a vile hitman who is always one desperate act away from becoming an embarrassment to his home minister brother Mahendra Singh (Rajesh Sharma). The songs Superman and Shruti Haasans playback attempt Joganiya have recall value. Of course, the film shouldve been reduced by a good 20 minutes - it doesnt run quite as fast as Arjun does on screen. Amit makes a smooth progression from 30-second commercials to a 159-minute-long film. His penchant for colours, the right use of the Taj Mahal (as a monument of love), his finesse in presenting the real locations indicate his adroitness in filmmaking. Im gonna go with a 5/10 for this one.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 10:38:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015