Ouch, that hurts!

Nonika Singh

It’s been 25 years since Ghayal came but as Sunny Deol returns with its sequel nothing seems to have changed. Not his dhhai kilo ka haath, as wajandaar as ever, nor his superhuman abilities to take on dozen hoodlums at one go, nor his missionary zeal to turn the corrupt system upside down. 

Any wonder the film tries to take nay push you back in every which way. And here we mean not just by way of flashes of the first film that fill in the dots. And it’s not just remnants of the past that make the film dated. Everything about the film is so archaic… from the good guys to the bad ones to the treatment to the subject the film offers you nothing that you haven’t seen before. Yes, to step up with times, there is an RTI activist who by the way is former cop (Om Puri) and then we have the power of the media. Sunny is behind the exposes of newspaper Satyakaam always on the right side of truth.

His way of paying a tribute to papa Dharmendra perhaps(  back in time there was this remarkable film Satyakaam.) For a refreshing touch Sunny bhaji has young actors on board, some of which do appear sincere. But only if they had been given something to chew upon, apart from getting hit and running for cover. Papa, papa is all the dear beti can do in the supposedly emotive scene between father-daughter. Oops, sorry for spilling the beans but if you have stayed with the film this long and still wide awake nothing can take away your pleasure. 

To enhance your pleasurable quotient it’s not only Soha Ali Khan but many a talented actors of Bollywood give Sunny company. But be it Nadira Babbar as the sanskari mom of the chief villain Raj Bansal (Narendra Jha) or  Bansal saheb’s wife (Tisca Chopra) or Om Puri (he played key cameo in the first one) all are simply wasted. Only Manoj Joshi as the corrupt cowering minister makes some impact. 

Is there anything else that is good here? Yes, action scenes are tad better and do leave you breathless for a while. But since these too seem to go on forever the net result is as numbing as deadening as the blows delivered to each other. The hoodlums tell Sunny’s character in the climax, “We are going to kill you with our bare hands.” As far as we are concerned, Sunny who is also the director writer, has already slain our sense and sensibility effortlessly with a done-to-death saga.

Strictly for Sunny fans or perhaps not if you want to remain one. Sorry to say so but dear Sunny, earnestness and purpose alone don’t maketh a film that too in an age when almost everything, including audiences, have undergone a dramatic change since Ghayal took the Box Office by storm.