Apne

Film: Apne Director: Anil Sharma Cast: Dharmendra, Kiron Kher, Sunny Deol, Shilpa Shetty, Bobby Deol, Katrina Kaif, Victor Banerjee, Aryan Vaid, Divya Dutt Rating: ***

Anil Sharma's earlier films Gadar – Ek Prem Katha (Love story) and Hero-love story of a spy had extra dose of Sunny Deol's screams. But contrary to them, this film has been able to keep him quiet and let Dharmendra's acting shine. His earlier films had very subtle tag lines but they were actually filled with action. He kept this film without a tagline and filled it with heavy weights and boxing!!

Baldev Chowdhary played by Dharmendra is an ex boxer, Olympic silver medallist. When in the US fighting for the World Heavy weight Championship, the betting mafia conspired against him and made doping charges against him. This brought him a fifteen years ban on his boxing career. He was passionate and loved the sport more than anything. He was devastated by the verdict. So he challenged the federation in US that his son Angad played by Sunny Deol would become a world heavy weight champion and bring him the pride back.

The opening scene of the movie where Dharmedra looks at the snow in his hands and compares it with life, saying life is like snow...we know its going to melt but the period it stays in our hands, is most extraordinary and wonderful.

The gloomy cold atmosphere brings in the grief in the ex boxer's life. The scene has the presence of his friend Ali played by Victor Banerjee and the way they meet and bid goodbye creates a bit of a suspense. I felt that Baldev Chowdhary was going to commit suicide. During the conversation, most of the shots were mid-shots which brought emotion and sensitivity that the scene demanded.

Cut, the next shot brings life into a Television studio. His friend is being interviewed and the suspense remains whether Baldev Chowdhary has committed suicide or he is safe. The interview continues and the story sets back in India.

For 10 years Baldev tries to make Angad a heavy weight champion but it doesn't work out. Angad finally gives up boxing to a career in agriculture. He does quite well but it is completely against his father's wishes. At times it seems that Dharmedra is being selfish in putting so much pressure on his son. But when one looks at the gravity, suffering and pain in Dharmendra's character everything looks justifiable. This shift of balance is well portrayed by the director.

Kiron Kher plays his wife and everybody in the house listens to her. She is strong, loving and instantly bonds with the audience.

Shilpa shetty is the traditional Punjabi wife of Angad. She is full of life and a loving and caring wife, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law.

Karan played by Bobby Deol is Angad's brother and would be Rock Star. I strongly feel that just to add glamour and liveliness in a story, there is no need to bring songs. What was the need to show Bobby Deol's rock star song with his left hand in the pocket, when it was already clear that he had some problems with his left hand from his childhood. I think the editor could have been more liberal and generous in his work.

Baldev feels that he is let down by his own people. He doubts his very existence. But an opportunity comes in the form of a Boxing contest called 'Boxing Giant' organized by a Television channel. Each continent would have their own representative and the winner would fight with the world heavy weight champion Luca Gracia played by Jonnie Brown.

The director did a smart work by bringing a real politician Amar Singh in the beginning of the film. So that the audience may feel that the boxer Luca Gracia is also real. He is fantastic and definitely more opportunities will come his way to play villains in films.

It's the treatment given to the film and the spotlight to the family coming together, respecting and fighting (in literal terms) to bring back the lost pride is the strong point of the film. It's also true that the fight back appeared endless. At one point I felt If Angad also loses to Luca Gracia, Angad's kid would volunteer to fight with him!

If R K Laxman had to make a cartoon strip playing with his famous Malgudi Days, looking at the bad hair days of the Deols, it would be 'Balgudi' Days.

I felt an immensely talented actor like Victor Banerjee is wasted. The music by Himesh Reshamiya is not at all soothing. But the film rises above all…the emotion portrayed by the macho men is worth watching.

This has to be the first time that I have seen the audience clap and cheer a fight scene in the UK. When Sunny Deol exacts revenge in the climax on Luca (the current Heavyweight Champion) for what he did to his brother, the entire cinema erupted. Excellent stuff.

On the whole Apne isn't a brilliant film, but it has its moments, be it the emotional scenes between Dharamendra and his sons or the scenes in the boxing ring, it does leave its mark on you.

It was great to see Dharamendra back on screen playing a well etched character. His bitterness and failure really came across very well. Bobby Deol was also good in probably the weakest (no pun intended) character of the three. Sunny Deol as always was brilliant. No one plays rage and anger on screen as well as he does. He really gets the audience going.

To sum up Apne will leave you with moist eyes and fists. It makes a change to see a good desi film on screen, rather than the pretentious 'we're almost like Hollywood' type of films which are churned out week after week.

First thing first which strike at the beginning of the film is that Dharmendra at the age of 73 looks amazing.

Story is equally strong as the star cast.Perfact way to bring 3 deols together. A impulsive and ambitious boxer want to fulfill his dream to become first world heavy weight boxing champion form India.When he cant(due to false doping charges) he tries to achieve it by his elder son who finally refuse to box as the game has no importance in the country and one can't feed their family with it. For the sake of family he disappoint his father.The younger son is handicap so he want to box but he can't.

There are very nice twist and turns in the film. Relationship between Sunny and Dharmendra is excellent. The great point of the film is that here, sons try their best to achieve their father's dream.

Reason of Sunny to fight at the climax is also convincing and touchy,

Film is little lengthy and has some unnecessary melodrama and unwanted stage song of Bobby. But it also has some emotional and touchy scenes of Dharmendra with Kiron Kher and Sunny .

One can say this time son has relaunch their father in a big way. Its definitely better than "rocky Balboa " as it has great emotional value and better reason to fight. Must see .

Too bad that I was just thinking for the past 1 month that this movie will be nothing but an ego show of the deols. I watched it yesterday and after the movie finished, I just thought- "We Indians rate the movie on the basis of what we see in promos.".. OK, just consider Tara rum pum, It began to bore me within fifteen minutes. The racing sequence was so pathetic.. I was wondering where this kinda race happens on this planet. The kids were equally worse.

Coming back to 'Apne', this will surely go down among the underrated films of 2007. I last saw a great sports sequence in a Hindi movie in 'Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander'. And then, I saw it here. Boxing scenes were well directed, if not excellent. Acting of the three deols were equally good.

I don't usually favor emotional and long films. This film had both. it was long and highly emotional. But I didn't feel anytime that it was getting on me. May be thats what you call brilliant film making.

Apne is the best boxing film Indian cinema has ever seen. However, as boxing films are rare in Indian cinema -I can only think of the Mithun starrer Boxer and Sohail Khan's Aryan: The unbreakable - that probably doesn't mean much to you. So let me say that Apne is one of the best sports film ever made in India. Still a rare genre in Indian cinema, but it's saying something if we consider the likes of Lagaan, Iqbal and Naya Daur.

But I will not kid you: Apne is definitely not the Lagaan of boxing. Anil Sharmas direction is far too unrestrained and sophomoric to compare to Ashutosh Gowarikers more controlled and sophisticated direction. Its screenplay is too sluggish and overextended to match the fluidic pace of Lagaan, which even at 3 hours 45 min, felt like a breeze. Himesh Reshamiya songs are not even worth the dirt in Lagaan. So what makes this a good film, nay, even near great sometimes? Because there are bursts of brilliance, and when they come, their waves take you in their tide and exhilarate you. Then you come crashing back down again, irritated with the blatant emotional manipulation and the repeating title track, ready to murder the person you came with, because you just cannot bear it anymore --- Then comes another tide and you're riding the high-wave again!

So when do the tides start coming in? After a drawn out first half and a very slow start, with almost endless crying/sentimental scenes, where the characters are not even established yet, but we are expected to emphasise with their deep sorrow, and just for good measure loads of dramatic music and repetition of "Apne, Apne hote hain" to drive the point home; ff there was anyone crying at this point, it was probably because they wanted it to stop! As let up, we have some very contrived comedy, from one of the laughter champion zelebs, which is not far removed from the stand-up routine we see on television. But this ceases as we progress to the second half, into the bread and butter of the film --- BOXING! Pure, unadulterated, BOXING MANIA!

The boxing scenes are so good, that they alone are worth the price of the ticket. If you have seen legendary fights, then expect to see some of the greatest fights ever on the screen. This is not predictable sports film sports scenes, it's full of twists, edge of your seat action, drama, powerful performances and story intrigue. The action is so realistic, that if you are faint hearted, you will flinch and cover your face, otherwise, may cheer loudly. They are going to go wild in India with these scenes. Even here in the UK, some people were loudly cheering in the audience and each blow sent shock-waves throughout the audience.

The credit goes to the stunning choreography, the machine-gun editing, the brilliant visual effects, the bombastic sound effects and the atmosphere the crew have created with mass-crowds chanting and the very authentic ring and auditorium. These are MUST-SEE fights.

And what takes it to a level outside of the stratosphere are the brilliant performances by the Deols. Their performances, especially Dharmendra and Sunny Deol make the audience berserk. And then enter Lucia Garcia in the end, and you are in for a launch into orbit. I think this is the first Bollywood film with a black-person in a substantial role, and kudos to the casting agent for choosing such a fine actor and creating a proper character for him, with some absolutely terrific dialogues. It almost feels like they enlisted a huge Hollywood actor to match acting with the Deols.

What really takes your heart is the inherent patriotism in the film. This is definitely a film made to excite the Indian crowds. The Punjabi flavour and the fragrance of the fields of the India only adds to the patriotic feel. This is a Deol film to the core, but leagues ahead of their other films, and this time with patriotism that you can ride from the beginning to the end. It's this patriotic fervour that makes you want to get up and cheer and scream at the top of your voice. I would be shocked if this film is not a raging success in India. For me, despite the flaws, this is the best film of the year