B-town remake trace a long way since Mehboob Khan's classic `Mother India' (1957 starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar) the remake of the maker's earlier Aurat(1940 starring Sardar Akhtar and Arun - Govinda's father).. Mother India which missed the Oscars in the best foreign language category by a whisker is one of Indian cinema's most glorifying chapters..
But why are we talking about iconic films here.. cause Apoorva Lakhia has just malign one..
Apoorva Lakhia's remake of ,Zanjeer' which wrote Indian cinema's history by introducing Amitabh Bachan `s angry young man persona.. The b-town super cops who fight the system single handedly.. is a graceless, pointless, nuance less and an unnecessary experiment on screen...
Anurag Kashyap's Dev D, (Devdas), Karan Johar's `Agneepath, even Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas and to an extant SRK's starrer Don managed to make their own mark as they tried to be in sync with the genre and the time together..
Honestly.. we didn,t expect `Apoorva Lakhia' in his `Zanjeer' remake to write rewrite any history which the original has already done last four decades.. we expected the movie to make some noise on its own and doesn,t unnecessarily make the audience draw comparison and transfer to the nostalgia..
Apoorva Lakhia and his writer Suresh Nair are completely guilty for revoking the nostalgia again after 40 years with caricatures.. Mala, Sher Khan, Teja, Mona Darling all are retain they revoke the nostalgia looking like caricatures and delivering those iconic lines making them completely out of sync...
The only minor change is the role of the informer formerly played by Om Prakash is changed to that of a crime reporter badly played by Atul Kulkarni.
Ramcharan is the only saving grace.. but the Telugu sensation who makes a decent debut faces a tough challenge.. he is fantastic in those action scenes shows great promise but unfortunately he will find himself in comparison with Amitabh Bachchan it's a boon and a sin at the same time and to top it all Bachchan fans have a very special feeling for Zanjeer..
To sum up the whole story there is one scene in the film which says it all.. it goes like this..
The new age Mona Darling (Mahie Gill) holding a Viagra tablets(yes you read it right).. lures a drunk Teja (Prakash Raj).. who unable to stand on his own falls down..
How symbolic.. the new age Mona Darling are the insensitive, ignorant producers of today who somehow get the vigara tablets (Zanjeer) from the market and in order to fulfill their box office hormones expect a `incapable' maker like Apoorva Lakhia who is `high' in his own world of cinema to revisit a classic like `Zanjeer' and deliver goods and the result is this insult to injury.. Poor Ramcharan, Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Raj, Mahie Gill and Sanjay Dutt in no fault of their own find themselves guilty of charges of murdering Amitabh Bachchan and `Zanjeer' on screen..
During the final credits Amitabh Bachchan's dialogue from the film is played in original while Ramcharanand Priyanka Chopra are dancing.. why..only Mr. Apoorva Lakhia and his writer Suresh Nair can explain..
Conclusion: if you are a fan of Ramcharan then watch it.. Otherwise buy the old DVD from your nearest store..
Rating ** (only to save the original from further embarrassment and for a noticeable entry of Ram Charan in Bollywood)
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