Apne - The much talked about movie as it gets togather Dharmendra and his 2 sons Sunny and Bobby for the 1st time in their career. Finally got to catch it the other day. So how did it stack up ?
Story - Apne's story is the story of a boxer (Dharmendra) who won a silver medal for India but was falsely implicated in a doping scandal and banned from boxing for 50 years. He wanted to avenge that humiliation and for that he trains his elder son (Sunny Deol) but just when things were looking good, Sunny drops the boxing and becomes an agriculturalist. This is too much for Dharmendra to bear and his relations with Sunny are strained. But they all live in the same house alongwith Kiron Kher (Dharmendra's wife), Shilpa Shetty (Sunny's wife) and the mandatory kid (Sunny and Shilpa's). Also staying with them is younger son Bobby Deol a musician with a left hand thats paralysed due to an accident in his young days.
Dharmendra's friend Victor Banerji cajoles Dharmendra to train a boxer (Aryan Vaid) for a competition where the best boxer from will fight against the current World heavy Weight Champion Luca Garcia (played by an black actor) in America. But after learning the tricks of the trade from Dharmendra, Aryan dumps him and opts to be trained by an Australian coach (a dig at Guru Greg ? ). Dharmendra is shattered but just at that moment Bobby's hand is mysteriously heeled (Bollywood Cinematic Liberty) and he now gets set to go and challenge Luca Garcia but he has to fight his way to become the top contender. And in another cliche - his 1st match is against Dharmendra's former student Aryan Vaid. Bobby manages to beat Aryan and the ensuing competiton to go to America and fight Luca.
So father and son set out to America to challenge the Champion. But Money Rules and Luca wants to fix the match and Dharmendra disagrees - setting up a exciting confrontation between Bobby and Luca. They fight a fierce battle and Bobby is upto the challenge lasting till the 12th round but then oh no !!!!
Near the end of the fight things start to go wrong ......................................
Dharmendra is shattered again. So will he be able to clear his tainted name ? Will an Indian boxer become a champion as he had promised the world ?
Performances - The movie absolutely revolves around Dharmendra and he simply ROCKS. He holds the movie and does not let it go. His is the performance of the movie be it as the bitter boxer , loving dad, tough coach - he excels. And he is supported brilliantly by Sunny (so underplaying his role , its actually unbeleivable) and Bobby (sincere). Kiron Kher as Dharmendra's wife has another punjabi housewife act to do - she does it simply, after all playing a punjabi house wife is 2nd skin to her now. The heroines Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif - only there for the glamour part and song list. Aryan Vaid is adequate in his small role and Victor Banerji does well too in his longer than the heroines role.
Music - The 1st movie where Himesh has flopped. Music is a disaster. Absolutely flat, the movie is let down by Himesh's music. Not one song is such that you remember after the movie.
Direction / Cinematography - CInematography is adequate as is the direction. Anil Sharma has grip over the movie, never allowing it to wander. Also he has 2-3 sentimental scenes where you just might get the hankies out. The boxing scenes stand out. A boxing choreographer was hired for the movie and it shows. Boxing scenes are way better than what we have seen in Bollywood.
Verdict - I give it 3.5/5. Its a family movie that has sentimentality running through the story and it also touches upon the sport of boxing. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND watching it atleast once.
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