Deewar: an escapism drama

Film: Deewar: Let's Bring the Heroes Home Director: Milan Luthria Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Kay Kay Rating: ** It's certainly no great escape. Escapism, though, is more like it. The film is high on mawkish scenes, implausible scenarios, poor characters and a really soppy romance. Did someone say escape? Yes, you need it badly.Decaying for decades in a Pakistan jail is a group of Indian POWs, led by a Major (Bachchan), who we are told keeps trying jailbreaks. Next we get to see some really ingenious MO - like setting a guard afire by hurling a burning lighter and some chemical on his face! His son (Akshaye Khanna) - who hears of his father being alive through another prisoner who escaped - is even more ingenious. He pretends to be dead near the Indo-Pak border, so that his body is taken to the border for identification. Later, he sneaks into Pakistan, carrying an ergonomic bag with space enough for a toothbrush. Life in Pakistan is one big party for the cool dude who gets seduced in the rain, bumps off suspicious policemen, and maintains different guises. Once news of POWs leaks out, they are shifted to an escape-proof prison with electric fence, menacing dogs and booby traps. When they are not exchanging abusive fire with the jailer, the prisoners sing and dance to keep up their morale, till the Major's son comes up with an anything-but-ingenious plan, the execution of which only the directors and the actors seem to know. We get to know towards the end that it has worked. Unlike John Sturges' The Great Escape (1963), from which Deewar borrows, the Hindi film has no character development, considering a great part involves prison scenes, most of them showing the Indians displaying senseless bravado against odds. Then, there's a hireling (Dutt), lodged in the same jail for inexplicable reasons who undergoes a dramatic change of heart. He's the toughest of them all; but remembers to use a grenade against his enemy only seconds before dying. Considering it's a thriller, there is not a single intelligent scene which keeps you on the edge of the seat. The schemes to escape are poor, implausible and uninspiring. Add to that a background score which prolongs your misery by another 20 minutes and a good demonstration by Khanna of how not to act, and you know it's not a Deewar that will be associated with Amitabh Bachchan.