ANGAARAY Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nagarjun, Pooja Bhatt & Sonali Bendre Direction: Mahesh Bhatt Rating: * * |
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SURPRISE, surprise. Akshay Kumar, as a cop who prods his wayward childhood buddies to go straight, delivers a sinuous performance at long last. Risking his life for Angaaray, he performs astounding stunts -- including a leap from a skyscraper, a high-jump from one terrace to another and more daredevilry atop a double-decker bus. Also for once, in the emotive moments, he stirs to life. Clearly, this action hero has potential waiting to be tapped. As for the rest of the picture, what can you say? Clearly, Mahesh Bhatt has been 'inspired' by Michael Curtiz's Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), in which feisty kids grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Here Akshay Kumar becomes the law-keeper, while Nagarjuna totes a gun and more for the underworld. Add to the scene the female interests (Pooja Bhatt, Sonali Bendre), a Judas-like traitor (Paresh Rawal) and a black-robed don (Gulshan Grover) and you know what to expect. Plenty of mob violence and misery. Technically rough-hewn and strewn with showdowns in studio hooch dens, cabarets on Las Vegas-type of sets, not to forget hysterical outbursts in hospitals, the malarkey keeps running out of control like a lumbering truck without brakes. If this Bang-bangaaray is worth a glance, it's only for those ten to 15 minutes of stuntbaazi. |
