Apne

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

This is good experience to see this type of movie,also the the macho trio-Dharamendra,Sunny and bobby together, its a good story but this type of movie is not successful in this generation.Its fit on past 60 or 70 decades. Its a nice movie on father-son, Mother-son , Husband-wife relation.if you ask me which couple is best in this movie,although there have 3 couples- Dharmendra-Kiron Kher (a very talented actress!!),Sunny Deol-Shilpa Shetty (hot beauty with extreme height),Bobby Deol-Katrina Kaif(pretty good but have language problem), I choose the Dharmendra-Kiron Kher Couple ,Old is Gold,what a chemistry between both of them,a natural acting overall..

The action is good but inspired from Stallon's blockbuster 'Rocky'..nevermind..if length of the movie edited then it would be more good. Music is OK.. not more efforts by Himesh reshmia,background score is OK but sometimes its loud. In other star cast Victor banerjee,Divya Datta,Aryan Vaid,Javed Shaikh are workable.. But the excellent performance from-Jonnie Brown as luca the killing machine. Anil Sharma always make movies with Dharmendra and Sunny Deol but to see together is a nice experience. The National Champinonship is look childish..where the Final Heavyweight Championship is look like WWF. The Action hero-Sunny look old age..obviously but perform a good fight scene. Shilpa looks good and act good also..Katrina have less scope , also she have to improve her language problem and acting,same thing about bobby role ,he have comparatively less scope than Dharam and Sunny.

The Main pillar of this movie is Dharam Paaji..what a stamina and performance at the stage of this age..excellent..new generation have to get inspiration from this OLD IS GOLD HE MAN!!! Anil Sharma knows very well that Indian people like Family dram with action and romance ka tadka... serve a dish,but not all dishes are good serve..Apne is like them.The story is good,star cast is good but screenplay and scripting are lower the marks.

Nevermind,If you want to see a family movie with tears and punches then definitely go for movie with whole family.

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 .

The film has a very warm tone of a father and his two sons. Told in the background of a-still-not-commercial-sport-in-India-boxing, Apne is a heart rending emotive display of Dharmendra to erase the blot on his sportive character.An equally good performance by Sunny and Bobby, this film is a must-watcher for family-film-people. A film for the fans of Dharmendra, surely. Lovely locations and excellent photography have helped a sensitive director Anil Sharma to direct this Deol attempt at presenting the family together for the first time. Himesh provides his usual score with the title track as unusually good-old world melody. Production values are good and the producer has spared no effort. A cut in the length of the film may help to woo another set of audience. The film will grow in terms of time to come and the producer must stand this test.