Kranti Review

The blood-drinking legacy lives on as Dharam paaji's younger son comes back in yet another fiery role in Kranti... And that's it. That's all the enthu I can garner as I try to pep this one up. And while I go have a drink to restore my creative tissues, here are a few interesting numbers this film puts in perspective.

One: The hero, the only guy in this movie who has that certain part of the anatomy that's attributed to super-heroes and billiards.

Two: The varieties of emotions shown by Bobby Deol. The first is the "I love Amisha's pout" expression, and the other is the "I am going to have Kabir Bedi's ponytail for dinner" one. So much for his repertoire.

Three: The number of rules he follows while protecting the law.

Rule one: Preserve and bring back enough of the criminal for the DNA matching process.
Rule two: If a criminal is guilty of being under-weight, fill him up with lead.
Rule three: Encounters aren't born, they're made.

Four: Aw, forget it!

Now that numbers have lost their allure let's look at the story. Young Assistant Commissioner of Police Abhay Pratap Singh (Bobby Deol) likes to let his fists do the talking (dialogue delivery ain't a problem no more), while his dad Avadesh Pratap Singh (Vinod Khanna), who also happens to be the Commissioner of Police, prefers to let the legal process take its course. Bone of contention: bad guy Rana (Kabir Bedi), who thrives on legal loopholes.

The course the movie takes reminds you of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, where the entire episode deals with the chase, and nothing important happens. But of course, Tom and Jerry don't stop running every now and then to sing a duet. Thank God for small mercies!

Amisha Patel plays the role of Sanjana Roy, who for some strange reason is doing a thesis on honest cops in Mumbai. How's that for creativity! With a pout one could kill for, a figure that manages to do the balancing trick between Western and Indian standards, and the ability to act when she is allowed to do so, Amisha impresses. But the poor dame is caught in a special appearance in this movie. She is there in the songs and the scenes preceding them.

The flick is hackneyed enough to be quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary as an example of the word 'hackneyed'. A story tailor-made to show bad guys being beaten up by the hero and clothes tailor-made enough to make you wonder how much they are paying the Assistant Commissioner of Police these days. And yes, there are things that Kranthi could teach Hollywood. Make way, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover! Wait till you see Bobby Deol and Vinod Khanna doing the 'Bad Cop - Dad Cop' routine here.

With no more cards up my sleeve, I have to talk about certain aspects like acting and directing. The director seems to have gone AWOL, and the acting... wake up, will ya!

This movie is supposed to be dedicated to all those cops who are being 'wrongly' accused of police brutality and custody deaths. And this review is dedicated to all those souls who blundered into the theaters screening this flick. Sorry about that encounter!