Tees Maar Khan Hindi Movie
After watching Tees Maar Khan I realized that it indeed is not an original film but completely inspired by master Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sicca's 1966 film After the Fox. That took away the entire credibility from the film. However as I spoke about this to the director Farah Khan, she revealed that they have taken official remake rights of the film. Point settled at least now it's not a copy but a remake! However the blunder is that they have not credited Vittorio De Sicca in the story.
The next discussion is - how good a remake is TMK?
The film is about a master conman who can open every lock. And he is hired by twin brothers to rob a train which carried a government treasure worth Rs 500 crore. Khan realizes that he will need over 300 hands to get the treasure off the train - which is nearly impossible to get. So he decides to do it without telling the 300 people what the plan is. He decides to shoot a film in a village through which the train will pass. And as a movie stunt the train will be stopped and the 'British treasure' in it will be heisted by the Indian villagers.
There are a few basic changes made in TMK from ATF to suit the Indian landscape and to add some bit of romance, which was nil in ATF. And that makes the Sheila Ki Jawani number possible - which is easily the best part of the film. Apart from the fact that TMK has a comic story, what works for TMK is that the writers Shirish Kunder and Ashmit Kunder have cleverly added a whole lot of moments which will be lapped up by the mass audience - a segment that Akshay Kumar has been trying to please. For example songs like Sheila Ki Jawani and Wallah re Wallah are out and out mass numbers. And then there is a track of patriotism and nationalism added in the second half which should click with the mass audiences too.
That apart the film has major flaws in treatment. A story which has immense possibilities of comedy is reduced to actors trying buffoonery - something often mistaken by filmmakers as guaranteed laughter. Hence though the dialogues are fine TMK turns too loud! Akshay Kumar yells throughout! Also many of the jokes are outdated. Songs are dumped in when they are least required. Too many liberties for the sake of entertainment! Technically the film is shot in large scale. It could have been edited better.
Katrina Kaif plays a bimbette who loves being item girl and as a bad actress. And she does her job very well. Akshaye Khanna is very good too as he goes about with great seriousness in portraying a character which is inherently funny - an actor who dreams of winning an Oscar and is absolutely jealous of Anil Kapoor who did Slumdog Millionaire! Akshay Kumar goes over the top. Wonder if that's his or the director's fault! Raghu Ram and Rahiv Laxman are just about okay. Arya Babbar and Ali Asgar are good.
Overall, Tees Maar Khan is not the best remake that After the Fox deserves. If Sheila Ki Jawani was to be played in a loop for two hours it would have been far more entertaining and pleasing! A very average product from a director whose last film Om Shani Om was a complete entertainer.
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