Aankhen

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">cast :</span>amitabh bachchan, akshay kumar, sushmita sen<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">director : </span>vipul amrutlal shah<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">rating :</span> ***</div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: 0"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="0" width="100.0%"> <colgroup> <col width="31.9%" /> <col width="67.8%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="31.9%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" middle="" background-color:="" ff0000=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" color:="" ffffff="" font-weight:="" bold="">synopsis </span></div> </td> <td width="67.8%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" middle="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"> </div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br /><center><img height="90" width="150" src="-00.jpg" alt="-00.jpg" border="0" /></center><br />jeepers, here’s a crime-time caper, a movie genre that at most has been approached with a pair of tongs by our play-safe dream vendors.at the very least, then, vipul amrutlal shah’s aankhen, an adaptation of the gujarati play andhlopato, does dare to wander into perilous terrain where there’s a downpour of lawless rain. indeed, you’re quite surprised by the audacious plot which emphasises that even the most upright-’n’-moralistic of men can teeter over the brink to wreak their own personal, self-absorbed vendetta. ta-ta virtue, howdy vice. so far, so unusual. the snag is that while the screenplay is decidedly different, it doesn’t quite have the guts to go the whole hog. in the event, the story-unfolding does tend to become as thick and obfuscating as a winter fog. more fatally, the ending which is the key to the film’s derring-do, is far too tame-’n’-lame which is a crying shame. an unconvincing, abrupt and half-happy denouement leaves the effort neither here nor there. despair. also, was it essential to plaster on titles of the exact time and day of the events just in a bid to be hollywoodish? plus, that track of a l’il kid being held hostage to compel his groan-up sister to serve as an accomplice in crime strikes you as a kooky cliche which has evaporated with the wind.<br />ergo, what could have been a knockout wham-bam thriller emerges as a fairly okay one, ensuring a goodish time while it lasts. particularly so in the first half, in the course of which you get acquainted with the quirky characters led by vijaysingh rajput, a veteran bank officer (amitabh bachchan) whose bite is worse than his bark. having built the institution from scratch, he’s so enraged by any dereliction of duty that he pounds a counter clerk to pulp. ulp. dismissed cavalierly from his job, the self-righteous banker hatches a sinister plan. to commit an impossible heist, his eyes fall upon three blind men—a victim of a tragic road accident (akshay kumar), a young man deprived of his sight by...believe it or collapse...an evil <br /><br /><center><img height="90" width="150" src="-01.jpg" alt="-01.jpg" border="0" /></center><br />uncle (arjun rampal) and a street-savvy beggar (paresh rawal). and there’s that hapless woman (sushmita sen) who must train the trio if she has to retrieve her kid brother incarcerated in an unspecified dungeon. the training segment is lively and funny. as for the bank heist which goes awry, it does have its nail-biting moments, never mind the glitches in the realm of logic-’n’-reason. for instance, where on earth were the other senior bank officers during the robbery? on the other hand, a mini-skirted employee and her gaga majnu are as irritating as wall lizards. and pray, didn’t anyone care to press the electronic alarm system? no video monitors, no nothing.<br /><br />in the technical department, the outcome passes muster. debutant director shah sticks largely to studio settings, intermittently disclosing a talent for crowded street scenes like the impressive slug-out shot at the congested dawa bazaar. more visual sheen and editing tautness could have been exercised to enhance the intricately structured screenplay. the music score is nothing to woogie or boogie about really. if you excuse the lapses, it’s essentially because of the legibly etched characterisations. at the outset, you empathise with the sacked banker, the empathy turning to fear as his obsessiveness takes on manic proportions. doubtlessly, vijaysingh rajput is an extra-strong personality, a part that is unthinkable without amitabh bachchan. bankably he’s superb, breathing conviction, suaveness and dignity into a role that could have been reduced to a caricature by a lesser actor. how you wish the finale had given the wronged rajput a much-deserved wrap-up instead of doing a negative short-shrift on him. of the rest of the cast, akshay kumar and arjun rampal are competent and likable. ditto sushmita sen whenever she isn’t crying buckets of glycerine. and of course paresh rawal is outstanding. give him a meaty part and this champion actor chews it bare to the bone, even propping up several scenes with his inborn flair for rib-tickling comedy.<br /><br />with all its pros and corns, aankhen does come out a wee bit from the salaakhen of the mumbai movie formula, which is a welcome change from the pyaars, dils, jigars, jigars and mohabbats clogging up the marquee nowadays. worth a glance. </div> </div>