Bringing the pride back.. Review on Apne

*Before watching this movie **– by just going thru the cast and story – I was thinking why don’t these guys(ready sunny and dharamji) retire gracefully than again and again keep on trying their luck by making and coming in trashy movies? It’s like Sachin Tendulkars theory – play till they kick you out of the game, dunno when they are going to bid him good bye so he can take care of his resto’s and other business ventures.

Anyways – if you are from Mumbai – I am sure you must be surprised too that - why does it rains on the weekends and it’s always a sunny day on the weekdays? Isn’t this the 3rd week that this has happened? Almost like the last two weekends this one too was a total washout with news channels warning to “not to” venture out on Saturdays and I was laughing ear to ear to see my favorite – Wadala Imax Road getting submerged in water L - I cud see India TV showing the poor chaps doing some water ski with the moving heavy trucks.

So the Imax was out of question and on my dad in laws insistence we had no other option but to watch it in a local theatre(Read non multiplex) – its been more than 5-6 years since I have watched a movie on any of those theatres, so gladly I went ahead and left my little princess with wifey at home as there is no way I can take them along. I was glad to see a big big notice board saying “No refund in case of power failure” – later some people told me that they don’t have gensets – so if power goes than we are on our own, but power doesn’t goes like that in Mumbai, was glad to know that the price of 3 tickets we bought in was still 30/- less than a seat of Imax J. Push Back seats(they make a slight noise and don’t come back till u haggle with them) – AC was good, but the sound system – Although it was a Digital Dolby – I  think volume was a bit on the lower side.

*The movie is a flash back **– told by Victor Banerjee to some news channel somewhere in America I guess as that doesn’t looks like India to me)

As is known and being told – movie is about a dad(Dharam) whose dream of bringing an Olympic medal to India remains unfulfilled due to some false doping charges to his name and he being banned from Boxing for 15 years – by that time he grows old and is in no way to fight back, He wants to fulfill his dream through his elder Son – Angad(Sunny – the name suits him too) who doesn’t wants to be a boxer as there is no money in that sport and instead goes in for farming and makes it big – he drives a Honda CR-V, at this point I was thinking – I wish my dad too was a boxer and from Punjab – I would have loved to be a farmer with a CR-V. Second Son(Bobby) with a broken hand – cudnt do much to help his father fulfill his dream – he becomes a rock star as they say – unfortunately he doesn’t sings like Himesh but does wears a cap at times and still takes money from his bhabi(Shilpa) when he goes out of country to perform.

All dads in all the parts of the world see this kind of a dream of living and achieving something they have not thru their children – I too wish my daughter to be a doctor(lets see what she does in the next 20 years).

Since he is again a looser thanks to his sons inability to take boxing as career – he trains another guy(Aryan) as his student who ditches him right after being hired in the next 20 minutes of the movie, the chaos of releasing him makes dharamji break the photo frame of his and Aryan with his fists and since bobby was trying to stop him – there occurs a minor typical filmy accident and his broken hand gets revived – again thanks to cute Katrina who plays a physio / lover for bobby, after a couple of head scans and full body scans – they make him move his hand J and he becomes a world class heavy weight boxing champion in no time – thanks to Dharamji and his friend that Victor Banerjee. He beats up everybody including the big guy “Luca Garcia” who happens to be a World Heavy Weight Champion(I am yet to do some googling to know who the current one is) but how come a movie with Sunny Paji end without him throwing some fists and without him shouting some good dialogues so public can whistle and clap. That too when this movie too belongs to Anil Gadar Sharma? So the little bro gets injured(Read some conspiracy) and his big brother challenges the Garcia guy for an official fight so he can take his dad / countries pride after killing him that too officially. Scene where he challenges him is worth an applaud. It really is hilarious to see him shout and get angry after being a shy guy for almost close to one and half hour.

As we can all guess – Sunny paji wins hands down and the pride is brought back in the form of a Heavy Weight Boxing Title – alas – the Olympic medal is still awaited.

The father son’s relationship is shown very well in the movie and I can fully relate to it as I too had a big difference with my dad for almost good five years when he didn’t spoke to me and I never visited his home, before realizing my mistake and patching up with him – life is short after all.

The taunting by Dharam and Sunny’s frustration is very well shot. Kiron Kher plays the role of mother perfectly and there is some humor too thrown in – with the help of one Mr. Bhullar who keeps forgetting everything about him, and again that Punjabi comedy challenge guy too is here to tell a couple of stale jokes which just make u smile.

Title song apne plays throughout the movie – none other songs is worth mentioning. Shilpa gets just a bit ok type footage – Katrina just looks cute in a couple of shots to her credit. It’s an out and out family(read dad and mom types) movie – my dad in law loved it and I could literally see him shed some tears on Dharam Paaji’s situation. He is glad to have it watched J and one more thing – he was too upset to know that Hema and her two daughters didn’t made it to the premiere of the movie L

I am sure about one thing – whatever said and done – this movie is not going to work out in the BO as it’s totally a boxing match in the second half and first half is fully dedicated to Dharamji and his friend Victor.

*The Cake **– as per me belongs to Sunny Deol as its good to see him do that serious type role and than later gets and does what he does best – “Ye dhai kilo ka haath” types.

Forget to mention apna “Amar Singh” too makes a guest appearance J

*Ratings and comments are more than welcome as always.*

*PS: Looking forward to “Aapka Surroor” on Wednesday as it’s a holiday(American Independence Day)*