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Friday, April 19, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD WANTED
EDITOR'S PICK
`Wanted` only for Salman Khan fans (IANS Film Review )
Rating: **
Though National Award-winner Prakash Raj`s flamboyant villainy and Ayesha
Takia`s endearing cuteness miraculously find a place in the plot, this is the
hero`s vehicle like very few masala movies in recent times.
Salman Khan adapts his goon`s name Radhe from his eralier Tere Naam
where he mixed violence with vulnerability in a heady brew. The mix in
Wanted is far more brackish and tangy.
Wanted is an old-fashioned bone-cruncher with guns and goons
creating a kind of orchestrated anarchy that was done with far more elan in
Ghajini.
In Wanted, the violence is far cruder and guttural. The hero is on a
sort of society-cleansing spree where the mode of conduct adopted by the
villains and heroes become the same.
Director Prabhudeva retains the crude edges from the Telugu original Pokhiri.
The villains are vicious and foul-mouthed and very often represent the kind of
unfettered anti-socialism that can only be contained by the vigilanteism that
Salman practices in the last-quarter of this blood-thirsty tale.
The plot is essentially about a one-man army who takes on a city filled with
scums.
The villains are everywhere in Mumbai. It was Hyderabad in the Telugu original.
But what difference does it make? Cities change, morality doesn`t. The predators
are everywhere - in boats, trains, pubs and warehouses.
One khaki-clad foul-mouthed villain (played with despicable authenticity by
Mahesh Manjrekar) even infiltrates a decent woman`s house and threatens to sleep
with both mother and daughter.
Mercifully the daughter, Ayesha, has Salman for a boyfriend. But the poor police
commissioner (Govind Namdeo, in a positive role for a change) is unlucky with
his daughter. She gets kidnapped and raped by the arch-villain. It`s a mean
world out there...And thank god for the screen hero.
While Vinod Khanna is wasted, Manoj Pawa`s role as the overgrown boy-next-door
doesn`t quite fit into the scheme of things. Prakash Raj as the villain gives
celluloid diabolism an interesting new twist. He definitely looks menacing.
His confrontation with the police commissioner is written with that polished
panache that brings a twist to pulp fictions.
But make no mistake. This is a made-to-order film for Salman. As a one-man army,
he springs into every frame with that trademark mix of a bored swagger and agile
comicality. His romantic moments with Ayesha have a lived-in credibility except
when the songs take over.
Strictly for fans of action flicks, and Salman...in that order.
Actor Arjun Kapoor says his friendships in the industry have survived as competition in Hindi filmdom is very external.Read More
Actor Inder Kumar dies of heart attackBollywood actor Inder Kumar, who worked in films like "Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge" and "Wanted", died on early Friday. He was 45. Read More
Salman returns to action with `Wanted` (IANS Preview)
Known for his macho image, Salman Khan is back with a full-on actioner with Wanted - Dead or Alive releasing Friday. The actor promises mind-blowing fight sequences in the thriller directed by ace choreographer Prabhudheva.
There is a lot of action in the film and it is going to
be mind-blowing. Mind you, it has all been done by me and not by a body
double, Salman had said about Wanted.
We haven`t even used the usual cable work that much; so it`s been very
difficult and I even pulled a hamstring during one of the running sequences that
took three months to heal. But it has all been worth the effort, the
43-year-old actor said.
The film about gang wars and crime in the city is Salman`s return to an all-out
action flick five years after his Garv - Pride And Honor.
Distributed by Sahara One Motion Pictures and Surinder Kapoor,
Wanted has been produced by Boney Kapoor. It is the Bollywood
debut-directorial venture of choreographer Prabhudheva, who had made the film in
Tamil earlier.
`Wanted` has a good mix of romance, comedy, music, songs and, obviously,
action. The film caters to all kinds of audiences but I won`t call it a
commercial potboiler. It is much more than that, Kapoor said.
The producer has called the movie his most ambitious film till date.
Prabhudheva too is anxious about his Bollywood entry as a filmmaker.
I`m nervous, I`m opening my account in Mumbai with this one and I`m quite
anxious about the film`s fate. I`ll only breathe easy after it has been declared
a success, he has said.
Also starring Ayesha Takia Azmi in the lead, Wanted is a remake of
the 2006 Telugu film Pokiri, directed by Puri Jagannadh. It was
later remade in Tamil with the same name by Prabhudheva.
The film also stars Mahesh Manjrekar, Asseem Merchant, Mahek Chhal and Prakash
Raj along with Anil Kapoor in a special appearance.
Wanted is the story about Radhe (Salman), an arrogant hitman who
works for Gani Bhai, the dreaded mafioso, on his own terms. Fearless in nature,
Radhe single-handedly eliminates Gani Bhai`s enemies, making more enemies in the
process.
A story about gang wars, where everybody wants the biggest piece of Mumbai by
eliminating whoever gets in the way, it takes a turn when police commissioner
Ashraf Khan vows to make the city crime-free and starts his campaign by
arresting 200 criminals in a single day.
In a surprising twist, Radhe becomes the most wanted man in the list. The
gangster wants him dead because he knows too much and he is wanted alive by the
police because they want to know what he knows.
Apart from action, the film also marks Salman`s return as a singer after a
decade. He has sung the Most Wanted Track for the thriller. He last
crooned a `tapori` hit Chandi ki daal par in Hello
Brother in 1999.
Industry insiders are pinning their hopes on Wanted to break the dry
spell at the box office due to average footfalls courtesy gap-fillers and Ramzan.
