Aakrosh

First of all, a warm welcome to Priyadarshan and Akshaye Khanna. Priyadarshan had stopped making good films years ago, he was busy making guaranteed super flops with Mr. Kumar. Akshaye Khanna had disappeared from films long time ago. Both have made a good comeback with Aakrosh. And, after a long, long time, bollywood has come up with a brilliant and meaningful movie. Aakrosh deals with the honor killing that has been prominent in a few villages for the past few years. The movie also discloses the actual truth behind these alleged honor killings and the real culprits behind them.

Three students from New Delhi are found missing from the village called Jhaanjhar for the last two months. Two CBI officers ( Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna ) team up to find out the truth behind their disappearance. The Jhaanjhar village, crowded with numerous corrupt politicians is terrified with the attacks going on and the police force under the Superintendent officer( Paresh Rawal) does nothing. The CBI officers have had time doing the investigation as no one in the whole village is gutsy enough to speak against the attacks and the one who tries to open his mouth is abducted by those groups. Ajay Devgn, the hot blooded, loses his cool and takes some strong actions and Akshaye Khanna, the man with the brain, takes his chances and gambles. Hard work pays off well in the end and the truth finally comes out and the village then rests in peace.

The movie has taken its inspirations from the recent cases of honor killing but on the whole it's a work of fiction.

Acting Department is ruled by Ajay Devgn and Paresh Rawal. Both are in top form in this movie. Both are trying to outdo each other with their strong expressions and dialogue delivery. Akshaye Khanna, too has acted well but Ajay Devgn and Paresh Rawal are the show stealers. Reema Sen does well. Bipasha Basu is wasted. Action Sequences are top notch. The chasing scene between Ajay Devgn and a group leader is outstanding. Dialogues are awesome. A few of them even manage to bring a smile on your face and compel you to clap and praise! Cinematography is average. Editing could be better. Priyadarshan has directed the movie splendidly this time. He is sure to win many accolades this time. The only absurd part of the movie is the romantic song between Ajay Devgn and Bipasah Basu.

To conclude, I would say go for it as finally a good Hindi movie has arrived (which actually is rare ) and for super strong performances of Ajay Devgn and Paresh Rawal.

My Rating: 8/10 Thanks and Regards.

Aakrosh boasts of a very good star-cast. But in the past we have seen many movies falter despite having a great star-cast. The reason (very obvious)----Lack of a good Story Line. Well, its this aspect in which Aakrosh takes the lead from others. In India, the movies are made around the Interval. Its often that a movie builds its mood up-to the interval and then takes pace. But Aakrosh takes just initial 5 minutes in building the mood and manages (with aplomb)in keeping it up. The story is gripping. The action sequences are top-notch. The songs are few and well placed. The background score is terrific and the performances are fantastic. Though there is an excess of violence but it goes with the feel of the movie.

Overall, a good movie which should not be missed.

Besides the usual disclaimer that precedes a film that all incidents, characters and similarities portrayed within are coincidental at best, Priyadarshan's Aakrish takes one extra step to reinforce this point, as it wants to tackle the real world issue of "honour killing" on film, cobbling together a series of faux pas newspaper articles and stamping them as "Fact", before hammering a full size "Fiction" inter-title across the screen prior to the commencement of the film proper. And up until the last frame did it dawn upon me that the narrative also took issue, besides caste, with that of corrupt cops and politicians who exploit an inherently weak justice system.

The story is sufficient to make you seethe with rage as we follow the investigations into the disappearance of three students, whose final moments will get enacted in due course, but only as we gain a certain foothold and breakthrough as experienced by the police officers Sidhant Chaturvedi (Akshaye Khanna) and Pratap Kumar (Ajay Devgan). Arriving from Delhi under the orders of the central government under pressure by a demonstrating student group seeking answers, the two protagonist have to quickly learn and get comfortable with each other's working style to maintain a certain degree of sanity as they tackle an environment that is most hostile, and alien to Sidhant, whose by-the-book methods are in danger of collapsing anytime.

This especially so when faced with an uncooperative local police force who cooks up possibly every reason available not to do work, and through their blatant obstruction of justice, may seem to suggest some involvement in the primary case as well. While on one hand providing unintentional comedy, I feel the investigating officers' pain when they hit a brick wall from within their own support group who more often than not seem to be on the other side of the fence.

It's the culture of silence that is most deafening, and for the first hour before the interval, Aakrosh is quite frustrating to sit through not because of its relatively slow pace, but how we see how helpless our heroes can be given their operating within red tape, and letting others rip them apart because processes rightfully bound them from hitting out. Those who have information are also cowered by threats and an innate fear that it's best to keep one's mouth shut, otherwise punishment will come in the form of bodily harm, and even death as dished out by the masked militia of men who call themselves Shool's Army, intolerant individuals bandied together to bully others into submitting to their bigoted beliefs.

For those not versed in the caste system, this film may give you an idea what it's about as it laments about the state of current affairs, and how there's so much room for improvement in terms of people's attitudes. Director Priyadarshan, whom I associate with comedies like Billu Barber and De Dana Dan, goes all serious and doesn't mince his words in Aakrosh's epilogue, as he crafts a somewhat bleak film with an ending that will raise some eyebrows, suggesting at times that you got to play fire with fire, and some of the techniques employed by the cops here may highlight certain (il)legal framework that many may not be familiar with for us outside India, but so long as it works (and a brilliant plan and execution I must add).

The film works because of the great chemistry between the pairing of Aakshaye Khanna and Ajay Devgan as cops who have the potential to be the best of buddies, yet operating on different investigative philosophies that put them at loggerheads as well. They share some explosive charisma on screen that just chews up all the surrounding scenery, with magnetic qualities that help to tide through the less happening stages of the film, one of which I felt was overly long and probably unnecessary was the entire backstory song/dance routine for Ajay's Pratap and his one time lady love Geetha (Bipasha Basu), their relationship being a victim of caste hypocrisy.

Despite being passed with an Adults only rating in India and suffering 2 cuts from a reported 30 planned by the censor board there, Aakrosh is still a hard hitting investigative thriller. While the trailer may suggest high octane action, these sequences are fairly limited in the film, with nothing that especially stands out to wow. There's a rooftop chase sequence with a fair bit of parkour, but it's more reminiscent of Hollywood's Bourne series which delivered the action scenes with a bit more of a refined flair, with this being a bit rough off the edges. However a ballsy story without mincing its themes make Aakrosh the winner here.

Priyadarshan finally decided to make a movie based on serious issues after a series of comedy stuff. The last I remember was Virasat and before it Gardish. Now both of them were well made movies but not to forget that they were remake of South Indian movies.

This would be the first time he comes with a serious and original script. The movie is based on the recent hyped honour killings in India. An honour killing is a killing of young ones who despite of belonging to different castes, fall in love with each other. Not that honour killing weren't happening earlier but Priyadarshan took the right opportunity to make a movie on this subject due to lots of media news on it.

The movie is a work of fiction with the background being disappearance of three young boys in a remote village named Jhanjhar. Enter our two CBI officers Sidhant (Akshaye) and Pratap (Ajay) who are given the task by the central government to find the whereabouts of the three missing ones. What starts from here is the mystery behind their disappearance, the corrupt acts of the local policemen (Paresh Rawal as the SP), the violent acts of one Shool Sena, the silence of villagers despite of multiple atrocities, the frustration of the two protagonists on being within the law despite of the fact that everyone else around is lawless and despite of all their efforts the criminals set free by the court. All this leads to anguish(Aakrosh) in both of them.

What Priyadarshan misses is demarcation in making this movie serious or entertaining. Recently we had one serious movie on the pitiful state of farmers who cannot payback the loan they owe (Peepli Live). On the other hand there was a recent entertaining stuff on the background of a village with a Robinhood type cop (Dabangg). Aakrosh goes one way or the other in its whole run. There are authentic talks and brainy investigation by the two officers but then there are also unnecessary song sequences, romantic moments and unbelievable stunts.

As a package though, the movie is not bad. Viewers will be glued to their seats due to the thrill and tensed theme of the movie. At times the direction of the movie picks up but loses momentum later on. This goes on till end. The script is good if not brilliant and at the end you have a satisfied feel. Performance wise, the cop duo chemistry between Ajay and Akshaye is excellent and the biggest turn on of the movie. Ajay takes most of the canvas and in his ruthless and gutsy role, performs very well. Akshaye also plays superbly his role as the tactful and strategist cop. Paresh Rawal is good but his character development as a comical and villainous SP of the village is improper given the fact that earlier he has played this kind of role very well(e.g. Milan, Mohra). The actresses are just shown as depleted woman of the society but they play their part as what supposed to be.

Not in terms of a serious view but to watch an decent action flick this movie can be seen.

Last night, I watched Mississipi Burning (1988) and was taken by surprise. It was really a shock to see how every bit of the movie has been copied by Priyadarshan. When I say 'copy', I mean it. Akrosh has nothing original to offer. Mississipi becomes UP/Bihar and racist killing takes the shape of honor killing. Rest remains same: the setting, the place the detectives stay, the place where killings happen, so on and so forth. Ajay Devgan plays a perfect Gene Hackman and does justice to the role. Akshaye Khanna plays a Defoe, the second lead. Can you believe it he appears in the same get-up as Dafoe in Mississipi...? Paresh Rawal's part has been a little spiced up to cater to the taste of Indian audience.

Mississipi burning maintains the pace and never goes off-track, thanks to the director. Priyadarshan spoils the momentum by bringing in too-unrealistic and melodramatic fight sequences. Watch Mississipi Burning for a much better viewing experience. Aakrosh is an average remake...nothing more!