Thakshak

Thakshak tells how Ishaan (Ajay Devgan) an underworld guy comes out of the underworld to join common people through the inspiration of his love Suman (Tabu). The story subject is no new. It has been beaten to death by several directors in Indian cinema.

What makes Thakshak watchable is Govind Nihalani's treatment of the subject and, good acting by Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose and Tabu. Instead of having too many gun shots and killings, Govind Nihalani through one family killing brings five view points together; the view of common people (Tabu); the view of the guy who understands the underworld he is in and who is trying to understand the common people through his love (Ishaan); the arrogance of power (Sunny, Rahul Bose); the view of the government elected-by common people; and, the view of law protecting the common people. Note that the later two are also part of the power play. Govind Nihalani churns a nice tale around these view points and gives an entertaining movie.

However, Thakshak falls short of the standard set by Govind Nihalani himself. From the very first scene of the movie, he shows that Ishaan sees the world through the eyes of his love Suman and she is his salvation. Also, from the first killing itself Nihalani shows the arrogance of power (listen to the dialogues of Sunny and the retired teacher) . If only Nihalani had kept Thakshak tightly around these premise with strong dialogues and screen play (thark/vithark) instead of putting onus on acting skills (of Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose and Tabu) and songs, Thakshak would have been another master piece. Especially, the presence of songs make the movie slow and lengthy and at times loses the attention of the audience (the songs only give Tabu more screen presence). The acting of the three main characters is first rate but if there was strong interaction between these characters in-terms of strong screen play and dialogue (in most of the scenes between Tabu and Ajay Devgan, Ajay Devgan keeps quite with a sad face; this is true with other scenes of Ajay Devgan too), Ishaan and Suman would have also left lasting impression like Sunny. I think Nihalani realized it and avoided these mistakes while making is next commercial movie Dev, which is a real master piece.

Nevertheless, Thakshak is much better and entertaining than the standard bollywood movies.

Yes, it's refreshing to see a bollywood film that isn't solely a romance - there are too few original ideas these days. This film is about the Bombay mafia, and in particular the son of a Bombay don who gets crazed with power and loses control and respect for human life. There is the obligatory romantic angle between Ajay Devgan and Tabu, but this is thankfully kept to a minimum. The trouble is the film just doesn't carry. A weak storyline and poor acting from the main villain contribute the the film's failure to get the audience involved in the plot. Although Ajay and Tabu are brilliant at acting, their talents are wasted in this film. The music for the film - by A. R. Rehman -is really good, but the songs are intrusive and do not fit in with the feel of the movie. Overall, it is not surprising this film has flopped.

Ajay Devgn subtle and Rahul Boses stunning villain portrayal was the highlight of the movie...Tabu was average and Amrish Puri was also amazing but there was one flaw which was the addition of songs which spoils the flow and a fact cannot be denied that it was the era of 90s where no film can work without songs... This films didn't require any song as it focussed on underworld in the form of real estate mafia...Direction was perfect and dialogues were also nice...For me it's a highly recommended film just because of the performances and some good direction...No where close to COMPANY, VAASTAV and leave SATYA behind which I consider the best gangster film as well as of bollywood too but has its moments. Nobody would be disappointed.

By 1995,I had read and heard a lot about the great movies Govind Nihalani had made but I had seen none of them. One afternoon while watching a weekly programme India This Week on DD-Metro I saw the preview of his then forthcoming movie-Drohkaal. Alongwith the preview there was series of behind the camera scenes and interviews about the movie which had wooed audience in film-festivals even before its release. From what I saw I realised that Drohkaal was a hard-hitting movie. At that time I was a fan of Ajay Devgan stunts but his carrier was on a low phase. I just dreamt that if ever Govind made a commercial film with Ajay Devgan as its hero what will be like.4 years later when Thakshak was released I smiled pleasantly on seeing that the dream was realised. However the flopping of the film made me feel that it is not good. Then one of my friends called it a damp-squib as he had a big hang-over of Vaastav-on similar lines and released around the same time. In all this I almost missed watching Thakshak. However when one of my other hostel-mate gave me rave review about it and said that it is a must watch for intense movie buffs we brought the VCD to hostel and I still remember that we watched it and loved it.

The story of Thakshak is brilliant. Although the concept of land-shark was shown in Mahesh Bhatt's Kabzaa-1986 as well but in Thakshak it is shown in a really complex way. The police-crime-politics nexus is also shown brilliantly. The movie shows a complexity in almost every character and it is portrayed in a good way. Like all famous Nihalani movies-Ardh Satya,Aakrosh and Drohkaal,Thakshak has a strong undercurrent of violence.

Ajay Devgan gives a brilliant performance as Ishan. Although the movie did not do wonders for him still he got acclaim for his portrayal of a man caught in a web of crime. It is totally different from his performance in Company-2002. Tabu as Suman is excellent. She gives new dimension to the role and proves that even heroines can make a solid impact in violent male oriented movies. The mature romantic scenes between the couple are very well executed and one cannot believe that this is the same pair which acted in potboilers liek Vjaypath and Haqeeqat. Amrish Puri is alsobrilliant. A regular of Nihalani Puri again proves his mettle as an actor. However the performance which haunts you the most is that of Rahul Bose.

The plot is quite simple. Ajay Devgan is part of the Bombay mafia - he meets Tabu - falls in love - and wants to get out of the underworld and start a decent life. The difference was the direction, screenplay and the music.

Govind Nihalani has made a really slow paced movie - but it is never boring. With a lot of slow motion scenes interweaved with the actual storyline the movie moves at anything but a fast pace. However no bit of the movie is boring, superfluous or unnecessary (apart from a couple of songs at the end - but someones got to please the masses).

All the characters put in a great performance - not the least being Tabu and Ajay. There were some good songs but by the end of the movie they seemed out of place.

All in all Thakshak is a different action movie. Not too much gruesome violence but with a lot more intensity and power in the dialogues and in the acting. I would easily give it a 9/10.