omphalos02

Truly awful remake starring Himesh Reshammiya, who cannot dance or sing well enough to make the musical numbers a success and does not have the acting ability to carry a film of this type. I never believed he was a famous rock star that made girls faint, and the fact the he shaves and waxes his chest to the point of leaving little scars is just kind of creepy (why would they feature that with all the open collar and unbuttoned shirts?).

Some of the locations are beautiful, however and a few members of the cast do not struggle with their roles. There is some rather corny "injected humor" (the guy constantly talking about his daughters and efforts to marry them off) that doesn't come off well.

Overall, was very disappointing.

This film does have a wonderful story to tell, and the location shots (it was filmed in India to imitate ancient Persia) are beautiful. That's the good news. The bad news is that the actual script for the story is weak and much of the dialog is stilted. Some of the acting is truly sub-par, although the girl who plays Hadassa/Esther really makes the most of some very bad situations script-wise. I felt that the direction was heavy handed in much of the film, but some gorgeous recreations and CG backdrops almost make up for this. Also,the fact that Peter O'Toole is advertised as a "star" of this film is very misleading. He appears in maybe five minutes of footage at the beginning, and nothing more. Overall, I thought the film had good intentions, but not enough time and effort put into a convincing script.