|
You
are here : Latest
Cinema > Movie
Reviews >>
Naqsha review
Naqsha Review :
"Naqsha" a shallow adventurous muddle
By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service
Film: Naqsha; Starring: Sunny Deol, Viveik Oberoi, Sameera
Reddy, Jackie Shroff; Director: Sachin Bajaj; Rating: *
A lot of actors here ham through this adventurous muddle that
looks like Steven's Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom".
Admittedly, Sunny Deol in his comeback vehicle makes an
endearing Indiana Jones. Hat in place, grin in sight, Deol is
gloriously goofy bringing in references to his
legendary dad Dharmendra in a sizzled (but ear-unfriendly)
number, playing against Viveik Oberoi's earnest but strained
step-sibling.
Alas, the duo never complement each other.
Remember Milan Luthria's "Kachche Dhaage" where Ajay Devgan and
Saif Ali Khan went on a rugged adventure and discovered a
brotherly bonding?
That sense of growing closeness completely eludes Deol and
Oberoi...or for that matter Oberoi and his romantic lead Sameera
Reddy who's on for a rugged jaunt for no seeming reason except
to add oomph to the bulging macho quotient..
The screenplay by Milap Zaveri and Tushar Hiranandani apportions
witticisms like plastic fruits on real trees.
The eye-catching outdoor locations are used to inviting effect
by cinematographer Vijay Arora who spans through the panoramic
locales with fruity relish.
But the characters are as over-the-top and uni-dimensional as
electronic toys in an upmarket departmental store where the best
items have been swept away at a summer bonanza sale.
What remains are the remnants of a dreadful day. And there are
continuity lapses like Oberoi's off-and-on stubble that brings
shame to the film's claims of being a true
adventure story.
And the humour is often of the most dreadful variety. There's a
particularly obnoxious queer-funny sequence where handcuffed
chotte-bhai Oberoi wants his brother Sunny
Deol to help him pee in the wilderness.
Forget the ecological desecration. The absolute lack of good
taste stymies the flow of adventure, like the scene where the
villain's moll stands speechlessly in semi-naked
splendour only to burst into a song about "nashaa nashaa"...or
was it naqsha naqsha?
Too numbed to react to the film's self-conscious paciness, you
still applaud the debutant director for his enterprising spirit.
When was the last time you saw a children's adventure story told
with loads of sporty chutzpah?
This isn't quite the ultimate adventure story that Spielberg
would have made. But "Naqsha" has an interesting look and feel
too it. The feel however is not even skin-deep. It's just
stilted and shallow.
.
|
