Movie Review: Knock Out

Director: Mani Shankar

Producer: Sohail Maklai

Banner: Aap Entertainment Ltd

Genre: Action-thriller

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Kangna Ranaut, Irfan Khan, Gulshan Grover, Rukhsar, Apoorva Lakhia…Introducing, Sushant Singh and Asif Basra

Ratings: 3/5

The film Knock Out throws light on politico-crime nexus in our country with the backdrop of extensive Swiss-banking by politicians to hide their black money.

It is the story of two hours between 11am to 1pm at a phone booth in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). Tony (Irfan Khan), who works as investment banker is essentially into transacting black money for the politicians in the Switzerland banks. For any such deals that he makes, he makes it a point to use one of the pubic phone booths located in BKC and not his personal phones. This cautious method of his one day lands him in trouble and he becomes a hostage of an unseen shooter (Sanjay Dutt).

The captor so much needs him that he goes on to shoots a man, who tries to barge in the booth. Following which the booth gets surrounded by police as well as proactive media. Kangana Ranaut is seen in the role of a crime correspondent for one of the news channels. She keeps updating her channel as well as making deals with police in-charge for breaking the news only for her channel.

Here, confused Tony keeps thinking in all direction but fails to figure out the location as well as the identity of his captor. He first thought of him being a contract killer, and then an obsessive lover of one of his victims and when captor turned out to be none of this, he assumed him to be Col. Gill, where again he is wrong. Other than this he was also puzzled about the fact that what the captor actually wants him to do to release him.

The first half of the film builds the curiosity to know, who the captor is and what he wants Tony to do. A police force is also deployed to find out the shooter hiding in one of the high-rise around the booth. The second half that is build on the plot of first is full-on satire over system and media. Although the film is not out and out jingoistic, it succeeds in making one realise, how several Tonys who are in to such criminal activities can be helpful for the nation in the contemporary scenario.

The basic insight of the film is that in the current situation, where the criminals live in the guise of politicians, only crime can finish crime. The light moments in the film is hilarious but at times it becomes a little drag like when Irfan dances on an item song. Nevertheless, conversation between Sanjay and Irfan is so strong that Irfan’s transformation from being a criminal to a national hero seemed sensible, as it takes several emotional turns from being angry, devastated and funny as well.

Irfan’s new look will add few more female fans to his list but Kangna’s make-up is too loud for a crime reporter. She was good at her job but in few scenes her walk-through and live reporting went overboard. Sanju Baba, as usual is in full form in terms of dialoguebaazi as well as in action scenes. Sushant Singh was seen for short span in the role of Police Officer but succeeded in making his mark. Gulshan Grover could have done away with his patent inhaler when he is playing a role of politician, who deals in crores.

The script of the film could not be any tighter. The transitions between the two scenes with the help of cinematography too are interesting watch. The pace of the thriller-flick is kept up by avoiding unnecessary song-dance sequences. The hi-tech arms used by Sanjay in the film are also fascinating.

The film is must watch, at least once, for all the Irfan Khan and Sanjay Dutt fans!

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Posted in bollywood , Enter10 , Film review , Knock Out

Aakrosh Movie Review

Film: Aakrosh

Producer: Kumar Mangat Pathak

Director: Priyadarshan

Actors: Ajay Devgn, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Paresh Rawal, Reema Sen,

Genre: Action-Thriller

Ratings: **

To churn out a movie based on a sensitive issue like honour killings surely is not a cake walk. And when the name like Priyadarshan is involved, curiosity knows no bounds. So, the question is does Aarosh invoke the torment against the system? The answer is like Priyadarshan’s recent disasters Khatta Meetha and De Dana Dan, Aakrosh too falls flat.

Unfortunately, despite good intention which can be clearly sensed while watching the film; the film fails to leave an impact. Poorly written screenplay and overly dragged direction makes Aakrosh a boring affair.

Aakrosh begins with the abduction of two Delhi and a Jhanjhar based medical students of Delhi University, in Jhanjhar district (Bihar). Sidhant Chaturvedi (Akshaye Khanna) and Pratap Kumar (Ajay Devgn) are two CBI officers appointed by the government when the three boys go missing for two months altogether. However, things are not that simple as Sidhant anticipates them to be in the beginning considering his victory over two high-profiled cases. The ugly scene of corruption in the political system gives him sleepless nights. Ajatshatru Singh (Paresh Rawal) corrupt to the core, a policeman along with his subordinates and other authorities in the district support ‘Shool Sena’, the prime culprit behind innocent killings in the name of casteism in other words honour. How Sidhant and Pratap solve this mystery seeking help from Geeta (Bipasha Basu) once a love interest of Pratap and now wife of Ajastshatru is an interesting watch in the beginning but eventually looses threads as the story progresses.

What compounds to the misery are the numerous loopholes. For instance, immeiately post interval, the locals of the district who otherwise never dared to go against the system are suudenly on streets rasising slogans agaisnt it with no literal powerful force behind them. Another is when Pratap discovers that Sidhant is not carrying his pistol despite well aware of the fact that he is in danger and to top it all he is CBI OFFICER.

The screenplay goes haywire post interval with lots of sequences coming along. Direction as mentioned above is too dragged to tolerate. The story and dialogues are the saving grace of the film. Editing again could have beem more crisp. Cinematography is ‘A’ class especially the scene where Ajay Devgn crosses the tracks under the moving train although that was unneccessarily shot scene.

Ajay Devgn proves yet again that he fits in the bill completely as far as role of angry man is concerned. Akshaye Khanna disappoints this time with a weak charcater and good for nothing role. Bipasha again is wasted with few dialogues in her kitty although the mystery solves with her help. Paresh Rawal is as usual class-apart as of born Ajastshatru Singh. Reema Sen is good in her small part. Other character actors are brilliant.

Overall, Aakrosh is a movie one can easily give a miss considering that it leaves no imapct as such.

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Posted in Aakrosh , Ajay Devegan , Film review