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December 05, 2005

BOLLYWOOD CRIME FLICK CAUSES CONFUSION

Bollywood crime film, APAHARANThis weekend saw the release of out of nowhere Bollywood crime film, APAHARAN.

Starring Ajay Devgan (COMPANY) it's set in Bihar and is about the business of kidnapping. Ajay plays a businessman's son who is dogged by failure and humiliation until a botched kidnapping lands him in the clink. After getting out and hitting the streets a free man, he hooks up with some real kidnappers who know their stuff and tries to commit to the gun n'grab route.

APAHARAN sort of just popped up at the last minute, without a whole ton of pre-release hype, and it's causing some bigtime confusion.

A few critics are calling it too grim and dark. Others say it's perfect. Others say it's too long.  Some people say it's great. Some folks say it starts strong but can't go the distance. Others say it's too confusing and makes you feel bad. And some folks don't like the musical numbers.

Whatever the word, it sounds like another strong end-of-the-year crime flick from BOLLYWOOD (I'm still waiting for this week's EK AJNABEE, and then ZINDA and FAMILY).

December 5, 2005 at 10:27 AM in News | Permalink

Comments

I saw this yesterday and have to agree with the plethora of linked reviews that APAHARAN is: ambitious, dark, well acted, exceptionally scored and has paid a great attention to detail. I also agree that the story slows too much in the second half, the plot becomes a bit overcomplicated and that Ajay’s character is not drawn deep enough for the audience to become fully sympathetic. However I disagree with the upperstall.com review that Bipasha Basu’s role was unnecessary – to me their relationship was the symbol of what Ajay could not attain and being periodically reminded of his tragic loss brought us back to an understanding of his circumstances and motives. This also ties in to the item number and ensuing scenes with the item girl which were obviously inserted to placate either the producers or the masses or both but it appeared to me that writer/director Prakash Jha really worked at making these scenes relevant and tied to Ajay’s loss of an authentic life.

I almost doubt that next week’s EK AJNABEE will be this good but I do have high hopes for NEAL AND NIKKI!!

Posted by: Jennifer | Dec 5, 2005 3:06:05 PM

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