Shakti

Cast: Karisma Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Sanjay Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan Direction: Krishna Vamsi Rating: ** 1/2 After a fairytale romance and marriage to Shekhar (Sanjay Kapoor), all''s well with Nandini''s (Karisma Kapoor) world in Canada. Until the day she has to return to India with her husband and child. Based loosely on the Sally Field weepie Not Without My Daughter (1990) this regressive film is no more than pat formula, allowing Nandini to succumb to every predictable poignancy as she fights for her rights.Surely writer-director Vamsi could have tried a little harder to place the actions of husband Shekhar (Sanjay Kapoor) in context instead of portraying him as meek and subjugated by his feudal father Narsimha (Nana Patekar). After Shekhar''s death, Narsimha decides that his grandson will stay in his anarchic fiefdom. Trying hard to adopt the raw savagery of Bandit Queen with the bucolic feel of Virasat, Vamsi ends up creating a pseudo-pastiche of rural India. By all accounts, the plight of a woman brought up in western culture, taken aback by her loss of rights once she''s married into another culture, is a real issue. Unfortunately, this film offers neither insight nor context - just unmitigated violence. To the director''s credit, he portrays the bestiality of a land where violence and the law of the jungle prevail, but doesn''t effectively communicate the rage and shame that viewers should be vicariously experiencing. The portrayal of the women is pathetic. Nandini''s one-woman battle is diluted when Shah Rukh Khan is introduced. The climax is a let-down. So is Ismail Darbar''s music. S. Sriram''s cinematography metaphorically captures the bleakness of the landscape. As for the performances, the child actor is heartbreakingly wonderful. As the self-sacrificing mother, Deepti Naval pitches in with a terrific performance. Nana Patekar, despite the heavy accent, is rivetting in his cavalier treatment of his daughter-in-law. Karisma Kapoor is superb. Her incendiary confrontations with Patekar send chills down the spine but the rest of the proceedings never really quite get into the same passionate groove.In sum, the painfully prolonged adventure is difficult to bear. The only moment of respite is when Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai burn up the screen with their zingy Ishq kameena number. In filmi argot, that''s truly paisa vasool.