Apne

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.

Film: Apne Director: Anil Sharma Cast: Dharmendra, Kiron Kher, Sunny Deol, Shilpa Shetty, Bobby Deol, Katrina Kaif, Victor Banerjee, Aryan Vaid, Divya Dutt Rating: ***

Anil Sharma's earlier films Gadar – Ek Prem Katha (Love story) and Hero-love story of a spy had extra dose of Sunny Deol's screams. But contrary to them, this film has been able to keep him quiet and let Dharmendra's acting shine. His earlier films had very subtle tag lines but they were actually filled with action. He kept this film without a tagline and filled it with heavy weights and boxing!!

Baldev Chowdhary played by Dharmendra is an ex boxer, Olympic silver medallist. When in the US fighting for the World Heavy weight Championship, the betting mafia conspired against him and made doping charges against him. This brought him a fifteen years ban on his boxing career. He was passionate and loved the sport more than anything. He was devastated by the verdict. So he challenged the federation in US that his son Angad played by Sunny Deol would become a world heavy weight champion and bring him the pride back.

The opening scene of the movie where Dharmedra looks at the snow in his hands and compares it with life, saying life is like snow...we know its going to melt but the period it stays in our hands, is most extraordinary and wonderful.

The gloomy cold atmosphere brings in the grief in the ex boxer's life. The scene has the presence of his friend Ali played by Victor Banerjee and the way they meet and bid goodbye creates a bit of a suspense. I felt that Baldev Chowdhary was going to commit suicide. During the conversation, most of the shots were mid-shots which brought emotion and sensitivity that the scene demanded.

Cut, the next shot brings life into a Television studio. His friend is being interviewed and the suspense remains whether Baldev Chowdhary has committed suicide or he is safe. The interview continues and the story sets back in India.

For 10 years Baldev tries to make Angad a heavy weight champion but it doesn't work out. Angad finally gives up boxing to a career in agriculture. He does quite well but it is completely against his father's wishes. At times it seems that Dharmedra is being selfish in putting so much pressure on his son. But when one looks at the gravity, suffering and pain in Dharmendra's character everything looks justifiable. This shift of balance is well portrayed by the director.

Kiron Kher plays his wife and everybody in the house listens to her. She is strong, loving and instantly bonds with the audience.

Shilpa shetty is the traditional Punjabi wife of Angad. She is full of life and a loving and caring wife, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law.

Karan played by Bobby Deol is Angad's brother and would be Rock Star. I strongly feel that just to add glamour and liveliness in a story, there is no need to bring songs. What was the need to show Bobby Deol's rock star song with his left hand in the pocket, when it was already clear that he had some problems with his left hand from his childhood. I think the editor could have been more liberal and generous in his work.

Baldev feels that he is let down by his own people. He doubts his very existence. But an opportunity comes in the form of a Boxing contest called 'Boxing Giant' organized by a Television channel. Each continent would have their own representative and the winner would fight with the world heavy weight champion Luca Gracia played by Jonnie Brown.

The director did a smart work by bringing a real politician Amar Singh in the beginning of the film. So that the audience may feel that the boxer Luca Gracia is also real. He is fantastic and definitely more opportunities will come his way to play villains in films.

It's the treatment given to the film and the spotlight to the family coming together, respecting and fighting (in literal terms) to bring back the lost pride is the strong point of the film. It's also true that the fight back appeared endless. At one point I felt If Angad also loses to Luca Gracia, Angad's kid would volunteer to fight with him!

If R K Laxman had to make a cartoon strip playing with his famous Malgudi Days, looking at the bad hair days of the Deols, it would be 'Balgudi' Days.

I felt an immensely talented actor like Victor Banerjee is wasted. The music by Himesh Reshamiya is not at all soothing. But the film rises above all…the emotion portrayed by the macho men is worth watching.

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.

Normally I avoid Sunny Deol movies. I made the mistake of recently watching 'Fool and Final' (actually I'd forgotten that Deol was in it). The reason I watched Apne was Shilpa Shetty, Kiron Kher, Victor Bannerjee and Divya Dutta (all three have very small roles). With some alterations in the screenplay, better actors, a better director, better background score and a few more better things, 'Apne' could have been a worthwhile flick.

I'm going to be nice by calling it mediocre as Dharmendra had a lot of expectations from it and I'd feel mean by being really really honest. All this 'high-tech' effects were crap (e.g. the x-ray view, moving camera, slow motion and rib cracking garbage just made the film more tacky and gave it a pretentious 'appeal'). The appearance of the title track in the background echoing throughout the whole film is highly irritating. In fact none of the songs stand out (most of them are abysmal) thanks to Himesh Reshammiya.

Anil Sharma's direction is very poor which is not a surprise considering his last two flicks. Sunny Deol is much less annoying than his other flicks but hé still irritates. Ditto for Bobby Deol. Dharmendra gives a good performance as the stubborn and obsessed father. Bannerjee and Shetty make their presence felt in smaller roles. Katrina Kaif merely plays the standard bimbo doctor. Kirron Kher is good in some scenes and over the top in others.

The screenplay takes (or steals) a lot from 'Million Dollar Baby', 'Rocky' (can't remember which one) and 'Cinderella Man' among other boxing flicks. In spite of so many sources, 'Apne's screenplay is pretty messed up. You're better off rewatching 'Life in a Metro'.

Stars never die… the simply fade away. Once in a while they shine with brilliance, just as a reminder that they are very much around. That's Dharmendra for you as ex-boxer Baldev Singh who struggles to meet life after being banned from the sport despite winning a silver medal for India in the Olympics.

Its Dharmendra's show all over as he puts up a sensitive portrayal of trying to win back his honour by coaching the first prospective heavy weight boxing champion for the country. At one end is his strained relationship with the elder son Angad (Sunny Deol) who quits boxing since the sport does not support a family and goes for greener pastures, at the other is his rockstar son Karan (Bobby) who aspires to fulfill his fathers dreams.

The plot weaves a script around these family relationships which at times are tedious but do have their strong moments.

The movie is a break from regular romance and love triangles. Shilpa Shetty as the Bahu plays her part OK, Kiron Kher as the wife is good as always and Katrina is subdued and around. Always good to have a Victor Banarjee there. Few of the songs are catchy but on the whole it's a Deol family show and the family bonds show on screen as it does off screen.

"Play Cricket or Tennis in this Country, cause boxing has no future," says Dharmendra and echoes well the pathos of this country when it comes to encouraging people who pursue sports.

Its not a 'Rocky,' but Apne combines Indian family tradition to deliver a strong message about the plight of sportsmen who are struggling today with the lack of encouragement coming their way.

And though it does have its moments of absurdity, on the whole it's a movie that has a feel good factor and should serve as a reminder for those in the Sporting Authority to fund more than just cricketers.