Krrish

The very first Indian movie I saw in its entirety as a kid, was Annamalai, starring Superstar Rajnikanth. Since then I was intrigued by Indian cinema, but never found the patience nor the time to sit through the standard fare of at least 2.5-3hrs of pure spectacle. On and off I caught bits and pieces of movies shown on TV, and the last Bollywood movie I saw mid-way, was Shah Rukh Khan's Asoka, and that's it.

Krrish is a sequel to the blockbuster Koi... Mil Gaya, also directed by Rakesh Roshan, but no worries if you haven't seen the first movie - you'll be brought up to speed in no time, and Krrish will also work if it stood alone. First off, it's a superhero movie combined with science fiction, so that was a plus point to have this movie reintroduce me to Bollywood once again. And it worked. With romance, action, and some comedy thrown into the mix, what can one ask for more for pure entertainment?

Those not familiar with Bollywood movies might balk at the length of Krrish - almost 5 minutes shy of 3 hours, which is quite standard runtime fare (there is a clearly marked "interval" in the movie, but it was not utilized here). But I tell you that you won't feel its length, and will actually secretly hope that it continues some more. The first hour dwelled on the introduction of our hero Krishna (Hrithik Roshan), a man born with extraordinary powers, whose grandmother Sonia took upon herself to shield him from a world awaiting to exploit his talent, if discovered. It's like a visit to the Kent farm, except that the whole grandmother- son relationship looked more at home vis-a-vis Spiderman's Aunt May and Peter Parker.

When Krishna meets Priya (the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra, Miss World 2000) by chance during her adventure holiday camp, and he becomes smitten with her, moving the movie towards a romance. She's the quintessential Singapore modern career girl, who puts career (or trying to salvage it) before love, and therein complicates matters of the heart when we get to the boy-momentarily-loses-girl bit. Plenty of drama in this area, though it doesn't dwell too long on it, increasing the pace for the action bits.

Those eager to see Krrish, the superhero, will have to wait almost 2 hours before he makes an appearance in full costume. He's like Jet Li's cousin Black Mask with the black outfit and abilities, but with a better looking facial piece to disguise his identity. But with or without costume, we see Krishna's prowess through various stunt and fight choreography enhanced by wirework from one of Hong Kong's stunt masters, Chen Siu-Tung, especially in his "qing gong" abilities to glide effortlessly through the air like Chinese martial artists. There's also a showpiece for Hrithik to demonstrate the kung-fu skills picked up, and the fights, if compared with other Bollywood movies, have toned down its cheesy sound effects and credibility issues because of its premise (if a superhero punches you, you'll definitely fly what).

And what's a Bollywood flick without song and dance? Yes, our hero sings and dances when romancing his love, from the mountains in India to the skyscrapers in Singapore, but he doesn't do so as his alter-ego Krrish (yup, just let the superhero stick to kicking serious rear). There are 5 beautiful songs in Krrish, and save for the one in the circus, the rest did not involve mass dancing by extras, which kept the focus purely on the leads. And the dance choreography was pretty amazing too, though I was surprised that Hrithik Roshan, given his muscular bulk, could dance so gracefully. Oh, did I mention Priyanka Chopra is gorgeous?

While the romance and action bit were interesting, the science fiction bit was unfortunately found wanting. Not that it was bad, but because it was too familiar. Adapting the same plot as Philip K Dick's Paycheck, the sets, premise and plot device looked exactly the same as John Woo's Paycheck movie - we have the evil Dr Arya (Naseeruddin Shah) building a supercomputer which can look into the future, and therefore becoming God himself. The evil lair too looked like Woo's underground lair in M:I2, complete with pigeons (no doves in Singapore).

For those who want to know more about the local landmarks used - Singapore Expo was used quite a bit, since it's large enough to be filmed at different areas passing off as different venues, even doubling up as Changi Airport's arrival hall entrance with smart editing. The Esplanade was another choice location as the HQ of a conglomerate run by Dr Arya, with National Library's Pod doubling as the penthouse office. There are many scenes with glass windows, which will clue you in on the location of the current setting. Other notable locations are the condos at Kallang, Shenton Way / Raffles Place, Lau Pa Sat (widely publicized during the shoot here), the Singapore River and our offshore islands.

Krrish reminded me that cinema is about the big spectacle, and I encourage anyone who's into song, dance, and especially those interested in seeing local landmarks make their way into movies, to give Krrish a shot. It made Singapore look sexy, and probably showed us a different angle in making an action movie here. While awaiting the arrival of Singer's Man of Steel, watch Krrish!

The wait's over, even though it took quite long.The movie is excels in acting and story. The story is refreshingly different and not abashedly picked up from any of the superheroes of Bollywood. Its in fact very good and innovative.One that is different and yet rooted to its base characters. Hrithik has one again excelled at everything from doing his own stunts to acting and dancing(forte). The direction is sleek and styled. For once i could relax, put down my critical enjoying view and abashedly enjoy whats supposed to be our own superhero with all the values and dignity. The movie has a good mixture of both humor and class

Krrish is a unique movie that combines many elements and genres. Reviewing this film is no easy task; reviewing it objectively is even harder. This is because Krrish breaks many of the expectations of a western moviegoer. It's action is unusual, its acting is often exaggerated, not to mention that its in a foreign language! Getting a good perspective on the film is hard when it doesn't look anything like the movie one was looking for. So, let me just get my bias out on the table early on in this review. I loved it! I haven't laughed that hard in any action movie ever. I haven't seen fights that good in any comedy ever. Nor have I ever seen music videos like those in any sci-fi super hero flick. I love the crazy place this movie has found in terms of genre. This film moves easily from pop music video to manga-style action to touching drama to thought provoking sci-fi. It's just great.

However, the bizarre amount of slapstick comedy, product placement/general commercialism, and constant switching of genre may very well put some western viewers off. This movie is not your usual super hero flick. Batman this is not.

It is, however, an excellent movie that combines the core elements of the super hero genre with romance, comedy, and sci-fi, and does this quite effectively, thanks to the good dialogue, great choreography and effects, and great acting and dancing by Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra.

I was thoroughly entertained and would recommend this film to just about anyone who is willing to suspend disbelief, sit back, and enjoy the show.

This movie is extremely predictable. Thats an irony because a significant part of the plot is about building some computer that can predict the future and heres the audience doing exactly the same in relevance to the plot. Overall, its nothing great but a warm fuzzy, feel good movie for the most part. The songs sucked. The jumping sequences range from utterly fake to decently implemented but the guy shaking his hands and legs during jumping and also executing so many moves while in mid-air, looked pretty dumb, irrespective if someone taking long jumps would actually do that and they don't. The heroine proves that she cant act for nuts but was at least better than the horrible one in Koi Mil gaya.

Hi everyone! I just saw the movie today and was extremely disappointed by the action! Hrithik looks Awesome as a superhero and his performance is good as well!

But i was extremely disappointed by the Action and jumping sequences! ..Having a career in Visual FX , i just could not believe how badly they have made it!.. Had rakesh roshan Used some CG (computer generated) Elements.. this movie would have been worth all they Hype it created!

Those who have seen the movie must agree with me that when u compare these movies to "Lord Of The Rings : The Fellowship Of The Rinf" or even a superhero movie like "spider-man" (both made in 2001.. or at least the effects)

i Think they could have done a much better job! No doubt Hrithik looks amazing in the movie, he would even make a perfect superman given a look at his physique ..

But then i wouldn't recommend this movie to Hard Core Cinematics!

In the End .. a Good Attempt but not quite "marvel" as its Hollywood counter parts!

P.S .. Hrithik (again) has acted really well.. if ur a fan of his work.. Definitely go for the movie!

but if ur a spider-man/x-men/superman fan.. Ahem.. be ready to laugh ur butt off at the weird/fake/funny Action!