Jaanwar Review

Jaanwar is yet another stereotype Akshay Kumar movie, loaded with violence, bloodshed, romance, past lives et al. Akshay Kumar, who, in his preceding movie Sangharsh, looked like he was about to break his conventional image of an action hero, goes back to square one. Seems that he is yet to learn that doing such movies stunts (no pun intended!) his growth as a versatile actor.

The story has nothing new to offer. Baadshah (Akshay Kumar) is a hardcore criminal, working for Sultan (Shakti Kapoor), who kills, loots and always evades the police. Now it is customary for the script to give reasons as to why the hero, who can never be a bad guy, has adopted evil means. Therefore, we have a flashback.

Baadshah's mother is very sick or very hungry or both. Whatever it is that she ails from, she seems to be counting her days. Baadshah, like any other hero in his childhood runs all over the streets for food (thanks a lot, Mr. Bachchan). The only man to help him by giving him a roti happens to be Sultan.

To keep the story going, it is required that the mother has to die. Needless to say, she obliges and Baadshah joins Sultan. Baadshah now needs a gal to romance. So we have Sapna (Karisma Kapoor), a street dancer, with a cruel uncle whom Baadshah stumbles upon while escaping from police. Sapna nurses an injured Baadshah, and as soon as he gets well, sings a few songs with him.

Due to his certain professional hazards, Baadshah fails to keep his marital appointment. However, he manages to get a child. I mean, he finds an abandoned baby. He now transforms to Babu Lohar and starts a new life with the baby, for which he first grows a moustache that resembles some wild grass. Probably this is the reason why the movie is titled Jaanwar.

Anyway, since the movie has to end, all the characters come to our hero for a final showdown. The boy's biological parents (Mohnish Behl and Shilpa Shetty) come to claim the boy, Sultan comes for some lost booty and Ashish Vidyarthi represents the police in the climax. The good guys unite and the bad guys die.

The music by Anand-Milind and the picturisation of the songs is good. Ashutosh Rana is wasted in an insignificant role of a bad guy - there are too many of them. Karisma Kapoor sings and dances while Shilpa Shetty begs and cries. Neither does the film have an innovative storyline nor is the subject given a refreshing treatment. On the whole, it is advisable to stay away from this untamed Jaanwar.