A sight for sore eyes. Review on Aankhen - New (2002)

DISCLAIMER: This is for those people , who for a lack of a better term , I choose to call “ Overly Zealous Anti-pseudo-intellectual Police” . You know, the kind of people who , when you decide to watch something “different” ( the latest “in thing”) they say “ That film was worthless !You’re only watching that movie because you want to appear sophisticated and intellectual .“. Well , if you fall in the above category , then you will be mighty pissed at my review. Because Aankhen IS a great movie. No , not because it’s “different” . Not because I am sadistic and like making Overly Zealous Anti-pseudo-intellectual Police persons angry. I am giving this movie a high rating because, in short, I liked it. So I suggest you go find another review to read.

Perhaps the first thing that gave me the urge to watch this movie was when I heard that the movie was about three blind men who rob a bank . Sounded really different ( if any of you Overly Zealous Anti-pseudo-intellectual Police are still reading this , I’m really sorry for mentioning the “D-word”). At first I thought that it must be lifted from a Hollywood movie. When I heard that it was adapted from a Gujrati play , I sad to myself , “ this , I have got to see” .

The story , as if you don’t know already , is as thus: Amitabh Bachan plays the role of Vijay Kumar Rajput , a bank manger. ( This gives the director a good excuse for him doing the most insane things without any explanation). But he’s also very hard working and honest . So honest , in fact that he beats up a teller at the bank for stealing 100 rupees( if only that would happen in real life ) . As a result , he gets thrown out from the bank But instead of taking it lying down , he decides to take revenge . Since he is a schizophrenic , he decides to get three blind men to rob the bank and humiliate the management (see how convenient his schizophrenia is ? The director doesn’t need to offer an explanation for choosing blind men ). He kidnaps the brother of Neha, played by Suahmita Sen (a teacher for the blind) and forces her to train the three blind men to rob the bank while he himself masterminds the training

Three blind mice

Akshay Kumar plays Vishwas. After an unfortunate accident, he is rendered blind. But, in an act of grace from The Guy Above, he gains a “sixth-sense”, which is similar in function to Spiderman’s “Spidey-sense”, but unfortunately not as reliable. It warns him ( well , sometimes ) of impeding danger and generally keeps him safe( but not always).

Arjun Rampal plays Arjun . He losses hi sight when his uncle gets him to ahem, “donate” his eyes so his daughter can see. After years of doing nothing , he wants to get on in life .

Paresh Rawal plays Illyas bhai , who plays the harmonium in the local trains . His dream in life is to be able to play his harmonium in an aeroplane and sing in English .

Storyand Plot

Although I do remember another Hindi movie in which a blind man plots to kill his wife, who is cheating on him , I don’t think I have seen any plot as original as this in a Hindi movie.

Acting

Amitabh and Akshay have probably given their best performances for this year in this movie. Amitabh plays the role of the bank manager to perfection . Akshay comes in a close second through .The scenes where both of them are together are especially good, with Akshay using his sixth sense to detect Amitabh and Amitabh in turn avoiding him .

Paresh Rawal provides comic relief with his rapid fire jokes and one-liners . But unlike other movies the jokes blend in perfectly with the movie and his character and do not feel as if they have been forced into the script .

Music

The music is also quite good .I personally liked “Gustakhiyan” , “Kuch Kasme”( which inevitably appears in a dream sequence. Sigh! Some things never change……) and “Pathela Jeb” , which bears more than a passing resemblance to “Excuse Me!” form Style. But at least two songs look as if they have been forced into the movie .

Direction and Screenplay

With the kind of story the director had to work with , he could have made this one heck of a film ..But sadly , he lets the audience down a bit with some poor execution and blunt scissors .

The first half of the movie moves quickly and the tension is steadily crescendos as the movie reaches towards the end. We are shown all details of their training and how they bond together and their friendship increases steadily as the big day approaches. The Bank robbing sequence itself is quite exciting with lots of twists and turns .

But towards the end things go a little haywire , with lots of people dropping dead like flies. It’ as if the director got tired of making the film and decided to finish it of quickly….and then decided that he should extend it a little more . This somewhat lets down the tension built up throughout the film . Although I wont reveal it here , the ending was confusing and a bit disappointing . But it does pave way for a sequel to this movie. Many loose ends are also present

Other than that some of the antics of the blind men were a little unbelievable . The bank also looks more like a hotel lobby than a bank. But I guess the director had to work on tight budget. If only he had the kind of financing the Karan Joahr and S.L.Bansari have! But these are minor mistakes that do not take away too much from the film.

Overall , I would say that this film is worth watching . But with the kind of expectations that people had for this film , it does let you down a bit . However , I’m going to forgive the director for that because this film is just so darn refreshing .