Family -Ties of Blood Hindi Movie
Rajkumar Santoshi’s new offering is purportedly a saga of two families, one headed by Viren Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) and the other by Shekhar Bhatia (Akshay Kumar). Sahai’s family consists of wife Sharada (Shernaz Patel), daughter Smita, son (Sushant Singh), daughter-in-law and grandson. Shekhar lives with his parents, brother Aryan (Aryeman) and wife Bhumika (Bhumika Chawla). Sahai is a gun-wielding underworld kingpin, and Shehkar is a homely family man (albeit not averse to using his fighting prowess from time to time to get his kid brother out of tight spots or rescue the innocent). Gulshan Grover, Kader Khan and Raza Murad also star as fellow-kingpins who get into Sahai’s way from time to time.
The crux of the movie is the contrast between the two families. Sahai is a cold-blooded killer who visits his family a couple of times a year. Nothing matters to him but success in his chosen field of gunda-gardi. There are undoubtedly shades of Tom Cruise’s hitman from Collateral in this character. He even dresses the way Cruise did, and does a complex little thingie with his tongue that the younger Hollywood actor performs as part of his role. One wonders why a veteran like Bachchan should be subjected to gimmicks ‘inspired’ by Hollywood flicks.
Although the families don’t know each other at first, they are thrown together by a tragedy which causes the death of one of the major characters, thereby ridding the movie of one of its big names and allowing the newcomers to receive the limelight. Unfortunately, they are just not up to carrying the movie on their flimsy shoulders. It’s only Bachchan among the male actors who saves the show. Fortunately, the women do their roles with subtlety and understated energy. After her stellar performance in Black, Patel is unfortunately cast in the stereotypical role of the good wife. Nevertheless, she rises above the role and epitomizes the strong woman of substance, who is a pillar of strength for her family in her erring husband’s absence. Chawla looks pretty when required, which is all that the women are really required to do in most action movies, but also rises above the script in the short scenes where she is allowed to do some acting as well.
Newcomer Aryeman, making his debut in this film, does not impress. He looks like a watered-down version of Sunil Shetty, and cannot emote to save his life. The only scene where he shows some vitality is when he breaks down at the site of a loved one’s brutal murder, sinking down to the floor and howling as passersby look at him curiously. Sushant Singh’s character is colourless and exaggerated, and there is no attempt to flesh out the role at all. Akshay Kumar is not given much opportunity to show off his already established talent, but does the job required.
The soundtrack is nondescript (barring Suhail Kaul’s vaguely catchy ‘Jeene Do’) and the plot jaded and beaten to death. The dialogue is terribly simplistic. In a highly intense scene where Sahai goes to visit his son (injured by one of the rival kingpins) in hospital, he ties a taaveez to his son’s wrist. The son goes, “Dad, you? Believing in this nonsense?” Dad: “Karna padta hai, karna padta hai (One must do it, one must do it).” In another scene, Sahai pours a jug of water over Kader Khan’s head to show his displeasure. Is this the same man who otherwise kills people at the blink of an eye? All said and done, the movie gets its moral of family ties across in an overt. unimpressive manner. Take the title literally—you’ll see a lot of blood and gore in this one. Definitely worth missing out on.
