Family: Ties of Blood

Movies under the directorial reigns of Rajkumar Santoshi are always looked forward to. After "Khakee" the audience were expecting more from Big B-Santoshi combo. The expectations were to showcase different version of pent up anger from Big B. Even the looks and the promos set the expectations in the minds to expect something different which wasn't tried out by Big B yet. Akshay Kumar had scored a home-run with his latest back-to-back hits at the box-office, so again he was riding high. Bhumika Chawla was still carrying the "Tere Naam" tag to herself. It was a sure-shot winner from all sides.

Sadly what turned out finally was nothing but deprecated version of "Ghayal" only tweaked to make the producers son jump into the shoes of Sunny Deol. And yes Akshay Kumar donning the elder brother which was made memorable by Raj Babbar. Because Big B is tagged to the project, Amrish Puri's character is extended to add emotional quotient. Sorry, the audience ain't buying it.

Akshay Kumar's character surprisingly gets bumped mysteriously. Wonder if that was actually part of the script or production conflicts dictated it otherwise. No wonder his fan base cried foul.

Big B's role it appears to me was meant to be a natural transformation of an upright person relegated to the dark side. Sadly the writing is a big fault here, which otherwise could have showcased Amitabh skill donning a negative role.

Aryeman Ramsay, I would refuse to even comment on it.

Shernaz Patel was miscast opposite Big B.

I would certainly blame the Rajkumar Santoshi, Rajat Arora and Tigmanshu Dhulia for the failure of this product. It was a golden opportunity lost.

A movie made for contemporary audience. The masses get to see what they want to see. Action, comedy, drama and of course sensuous scenes as well. This is not exactly a movie that one would feel comfortable watching with entire family. It isn't for eyes of children. I had to fast forward quite a number of scenes.

If it is just entertainment you are looking for, then this movie has it all. The songs are catchy. A lavish production, I must add.

However, the message of the movie is not universal. It emphasizes on the idea of karma. That is, if you do good, you will get good. And if you do evil, you will get evil. The fruit of good deeds is good, while the fruit of evil is evil.

In real life, this is not always true. It is well-known that most people do not get justice in this world. While it is true that some evil people do meet with an evil end, there are many who escape. And then, there are many people who do good, and yet in return they meet with a sorry end.

If you don't care about the message, and all you want is an escape from worldly reality, this movie is an entertainer alright.

Even though this was a disaster in the box office, It is my favorite film. It gives a powerful message of family. It has a lot of violence and has one song with a bunch of girls in bikinis. Compared to other bollywood films, the action scenes in this movie are more realistic. It is an incredible combination of Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. If you want to see the Indian Godfather, Amitabh portrays that in this film. Don't read reviews by critic, they're just stupid. This movie has good mix of comedy, romance, drama, and especially action. So if you want to see action more realistic than Main Hoon Na(still good movie), this is the movie.

Well, I get used after awhile to read comments about these movies that don't reflect my experience at all. To me, Amitabh was a better villain here than in some of his most famous movies. He was a die-hard villain, a no-apologies villain. To me it was a breath of fresh air to see him in a role where his villainy isn't sort of undercut in some way.

The kid who played Aryan was probably over his head with this cast. There I think maybe the director could have done better. But, to be honest, the very best part of this movie was Shernaz Patel. She is an unsung heroine, a true veteran thespian who is overqualified for every role she is offered. But I must say I appreciated her contribution greatly as she played Virendra Sahi's wife. She may be given little to do, but she does everything with total conviction. I'm sure she sailed right over the heads of most of the audience.

So if you are in a habit for settling for Bollywood average, you won't get much out of this movie. But if you constantly search for something more, then this might give you some of what you've been missing.

I have decided to not believe what famous movie critics say. Even though this movie did not get the best comments, this movie made my day. It got me thinking. What a false world this is.

What do you do when your most loved ones deceive you. It's said that no matter how often you feed milk to a snake, it can never be loyal and will bite when given a chance. Same way some people are such that they are never grateful. This movie is about how selfish people can be and how everyone is ultimately just thinking about oneself and working for oneself.

A brother dies inadvertently at the hands of a gangster. The surviving brother decides to take revenge. Through this process, we learn about the futility of this world. Nothing is real and no one is loyal to anyone.

Amitabh gave the performance of his life. The new actor Aryan gave a good performance. The actress who played the wife of Amitabh stole the show. Her role was small but she portrayed her role so diligently that one is moved by her performance. Chawla had really great face expressions but her role was very limited and was not given a chance to fully express herself.

A great movie by Raj Kumar Santoshi. His movies always give some message to the audience. His movies are like novels of Nanak Singh (a Punjabi novelist who's novels always had a purpose and targeted a social evil) because they have a real message for the audience. They are entertaining as well as lesson-giving.