Movie Review | Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan: A Hindlugu' entertainer for Salman fans
It is Id time for Salman Khan fans when he goes the whole hog with his kind of “muscled heart of gold act”. From the minute when the film starts and he is projected in the larger-than-life image to the immediate metamorphosis to the dance number in clothes that could make Ranveer blush, you know that this is the kind of treat your ticket entails and filmmaker Farhad Samji uses every known trick in the trade.
He adds to this South Indian masala enough ingredients of mixed star values from the Telugu cinema world and comes up with a Hindlugu (Hindi +Telugu) film.
The film is a complicated narrative with stories on the side requiring to be knitted together with a cast that can fill a stadium and if all of them decide to see the movie at a single theatre on the same day at the same time, if nothing, the film would earn a House full board.
Based on the Tamil film ‘Veeram’ starring Ajit, it is about the superpowers (read Rajni Balakrishna) of an orphan with a heart of gold destroying every evil that comes his way when he is not playing the ageless Good Samaritan.
Minutes into the movie instead of a narrator we have the cast telling you who they are and what they are doing.
So we have three young guys Love (Sidharth Nigam), Ishq (Raghav Juyal), and Moh (Jassie Gill) in love with three bimbettes of inconsequential names (real or screen).
Their problem is that Bhaijaan (Salman Khan) is a misogamist and partly misogynist. The side track for this is that he was in love with a certain Bhagyalakshmi – the lottery he never won. Shades of ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ and ‘Hungamma’.
However, while the other brothers have their respective romantic interests in place and are about to revolt against the rule against marriages, Chachha (Satish Kaushik) gets into yet another side track to inform the boys, gals, and the audience that the sacrifices that Bhaijaan made for the three little brothers are greater than that of Vijay (Amitabh of ‘Deewar’).
Also, the great sacrifices are not a tribute to the Bard who said that blood is thicker than water. The three guys are not blood brothers but from an orphanage just like Bhaijaan.
The threesome now has a brain wave to track Bhagyalakshmi, and get her hooked to Bhaijaan.
On the route to this misadventure, they land up on the same rainy road of another Bhagya Lakshmi (Pooja Hegde) who looks decades younger than the original, albeit more willing to please.
She adds to the community intelligence which is still woefully below average and conspires to get Bhaijaan back to Mood Romance from Mood Violence.
Yet another side story, a tad longer than the others: New Bhagya has an anna (Venkatesh) with his wife (Bhumika), mom (Rohini Hattangadi), and other hangers-on in a palatial house down south. This peace-loving Anna is thrilled that sis has found Bhaijaan and is eager to walk around the fire. Unfortunately, he is a merchant of peace while Bhaijaan and his old habit refuses to die and life is giving him plenty of opportunities to show his fighting powers. New Bhagya is shocked at the unrevealed streak of the character and is puzzled about how peace-loving Anna would accept him.
In the midst of wardrobes from a dhoti shop for which one of them is a brand ambassador, they all sing and dance till the villain decides enough is enough. In short Bad Guy (Jagapathi Babu) signals exit to the choreographer and entry to the fight master.
Another side track. Bad Guy is the son of an honest businessman (Thanikella Bharani) who dies of a heart attack at the instance of Anna due to the misdeeds of the Bad Guy. However, Bad Guy being bad finds this enough reason (or certainly the director does) to wreak vengeance against Anna, and the bouts of violence hitherto were abortive attempts on New Bhagya and not Bhaijaan as all would like to believe.
Now that he decides to play spoilsport at the celebrations at the Anna household, Bhaijaan & Bros, a Violence Corp. have a new job on hand - protect the Anna household. They, however, find Bad Guy a tough customer. Out on the streets, blood flows, gravel and stones smash faces and heads till Bad Guy concedes ceasefire. The battle is over, the war is not.
Super Villain (Vijender Singh) adds to the violence without rhyme or reason and with the same result.
From the South, it is Venkatesh and Jagapathi Babu who find screen space worth talking about. Venkatesh swings from the peace-loving man to the man with simmering anger and muscle to match with ease and experience. Jagapathi Babu with his fixed expression can do little. This is accentuated by the regular film makers’ idea of evil.
The likes of Bhumika are reduced to nothing. The three brothers and the matching bimbettes -less said the better. They suffer from intrinsic challenges and are victims of abetment by the filmmaker.
That leaves two hours and forty minutes for the choreographer and the stunt person.
At 57 and counting, Salman Khan’s romance with Pooja Hegde is an eyesore. It reiterates how for a long this age-defying romance between the male protagonist and the heroine half his age is gender insensitive and gender prejudiced. In short, it is time big players called the bluff. This is unlikely since they are the immediate beneficiaries. Salman certainly is a beneficiary of this script that is Bhaijaan-centric. To his credit, he gives his fans their monies worth. Otherwise one cares a hoot about ‘Kis Ka Bhai or Kis Ki Jaan’.
Movie: Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan
Director: Farhad Samji
Cast: Salman Khan, Pooja Hegde
