ZANJEER MOVIE REVIEW

Film : Zanjeer(Hindi,2013), Thoofan(Telugu, 2013)
Cast : Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt (Hindi), Srihari (Telugu), Prakash Raj, Mahie Gill, Ankur Bhatia, Atul Kulkarni (Hindi)
Tanikella Bharani (Telugu)
Music :Meet Bros Anjjan, Chirantan Bhatt, Anand Raj Anand
Cinematography : Gururaj R. Jois
Editing : Chintu Singh
Studio :Reliance Entertainment,Prakash Mehra Productions,Flying Turtle Films
Director : Apoorva Lakhia
Producers : Mahi's Entertainment,Puneet Prakash Mehra,Sumeet Prakash Mehra,Flying Turtle Films
Screenplay by : Suresh Nair,Apoorva Lakhia
Story : Apoorva Lakhia
Based on : Zanjeer by Salim-Javed
Distributed by : Reliance Entertainment
Release date: 6 September 2013
Running time : 125 minutes
Budget : 45 crore (US$7.2 million)
Watched Theater : Bhaskar Delux, Guntur
Rating: 2 / 5

Ram Charan and Priyanka Chopra New Bollywood Telugu film Zanjeer, Thoofan Movie Review:
They say, "If it's not broke, don't fix it!" Yes, that's exactly the label that should plastered in big, bold letters on remakes which try to make a cult film contemporary under the guise of giving a tribute. While some, if handled by creative geniuses, ends up becoming successes again, like Agneepath, most end up falling short and biting the dust. Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer, remake of its namesake made by Prakash Mehra lands in the latter category.

Story:
A brutally honest cop Vijay Khanna (Ram Charan) lands himself in Mumbai after being transferred from Andhra Pradesh for the nth time. He is given the case to seal the nexus of oil mafia Teja (Prakash Raj) who gets highlighted after a murder by his gang. The witness of the murder is Mala (Priyanka Chopra) who initially refuses to cooperate but eventually budges and helps Vijay out only to land herself on the radar of Teja.

In order to save her life while putting an end to Teja's nefarious and illegal activities, Vijay makes her take refuge in his house. He also encounters (Sher Khan) who is into buying and selling of illegal cars. Seeing Vijay's honesty and determination, Sher Khan turns over a new leaf and mends his ways to transform into a person who now only goes by the book. He has made Vijay a friend for life and will do anything to help him out. How the two uproot Teja's illegal empire is what follows through the rest of the plot.


Artists Performance:
Son of South superstar Chiranjeevi and a superstar in his own right down South Ram Charan takes up a humungous task of stepping into the shoes of iconic superstar Amitabh Bachchan for his debut film itself. To essay a character which earned Amitabh Bachchan the title of 'angry young man', is no cake walk and Ram completely gets burdened by the weight. Not only does his dubbed voice gets identified easily, his perpetual angry face doesn't add to his character.

As NRI girl Mala, Priyanka Chopra, who is debuting in Tollywood with Thoofan, seems to have a whole lot of infectious fun. She spells joie de vivre and looks gorgeous. She is the comic relief in this fast-paced actioner. Her chemistry with Ram Charan is good, but their romantic episodes could have been a lot better.

The whole villain-vamp equation between Teja (Prakash Raj) and Mona Darling (Mahie Gill) is here subverted to a kind of comic coitus interruptus where Prakash Raj repeatedly keeps talking about sex without getting down to it while 'Mona' Mahie Gill purrs and moans and pouts - not out of passion, but for just the opposite reasons. The new Teja-Mona pair is a homage to actor Ajit and Bindu in the original Zanjeer. It reminds us of the renewed cycle of art and individual talent.

The only few moments you do enjoy in the film are that of Sanjay Dutt purely for the experience the superstar holds, however, that too takes a hit when he gets made to do funny dance and fight sequences that work against his gait.

Technical and Other Departments:
Javed-Ejaz have choreographed action for the film, which look raw and real. The attention paid to getting the action sequences right is highly commendable. There is an elaborately staged multiple-explosion sequence in a huge Dharavi-like slum which belongs to a Vin Diesel-starrer. Ram Charan has done some of the dare-devil stunts without using a body-double.Thoofan has rich production values and Gururaj Jois' cinematography is the main highlight in the technical front. His camera moves dexterously, but never to divert our attention from the central conflict.
Meet Bros Anjjan, Chirantan Bhatt, Anand Raj Anand's music and background scores are other big highlights of the film Thoofan. But the music lacks the punch that a usual Cherry movie will have. A good musician would have really done much better than the one it has now.Other technical departments have also done fare job. Art direction is brilliant. Chintan's dialogues use one-liners judiciously, never over-doing the smart-alec retorts. Chintu Singh's editing is also commendable.

Movie Analysis:
Apoorva Lakhia who has a superhit like Shootout At Lokhandwala to his credit goes all out to wipe off any credibility in his work with this feeble attempt. Right from the start of the film where you have a skimpily clad greasy unknown model crooning to the title track during the credits to the entry scene of Vijay Khanna, you know the film is a letdown even before it comes to culmination.

The story of the remake is pretty much alike its predecessor barring the exception of the setting. The spurious liquor backdrop of the olden times turns itself into oil smuggling in this one. Even characters become contemporary for example a simple "chakku-churi" girl Mala gets a modern makeover and finds herself as a Gujarati NRI. Even the slick and stylish appearance of Teja gets converted into a buffoon-y, indulgent and psychotic Teja. The changes aren't completely for the good for while Prakash Raj manages to hold fort, Priyanka Chopra as the loud, blonde babe turns out to be excruciatingly annoying.

Final View:
Overall, the new-age Zanjeer doesn't hold half as much promise as the cult classic did and literally falls flat on its face. Watch the old one once again and forget about this.



















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