Kismat: 16 reels of cliches

Sukanya Verma | February 20, 2004 18:51 IST


A man shoots 16 people in 16 reels and gets away scot free. Eventually, when he does get punished, he is sentenced for three years.

Don't you just love Hindi movies?

You could be excused for being sarcastic after watching Guddu Dhanoa's Kismat. On second thoughts, don't bother!

All of Dhanoa's action flicks -- like Ziddi and Salaakhen -- are consistent: they all reek of clichés. They defy logic too. There is nothing wrong in being illogical as long as it is unapologetic. Dhanoa's Ziddi clicked despite being unbelievably implausible because Sunny Deol could carry it off.

But in Kismat, Bobby Deol is unable to do a bade bhaiya (big brother).

All it has going for it are five popular clichés.

Cliché # 1
Every time a wronged hero gets defensive, he pleads, "Koi bhi insaan ma ki pet se mujrim banke nahin nikalta (No man is born a criminal)."

Kismat adopts this philosophy as the basis of its plot and hero Tony's (Bobby Deol) character. After his parents die, young Tony is abandoned by his uncle and aunt in a train compartment. He bumps into a bunch of street kids who share his love for Amitabh Bachchan and his work in Deewar. Like Bachchan's character in this Yash Chopra classic, Tony and his cronies grow up on the wrong side of law.

Bobby plays Tony with streaked hair and the air of a schoolgoing spoilt brat who makes sure he gets whatever he wants. In due course, his misdeeds result in the persecution of his dream girl's (Priyanka Chopra) honest father Dr Gosain (Mohan Joshi).

Cliché # 2
Action movies seldom have any scope for a heroine. She does her standard stage dance, dream dance, cabaret dance, mandir appearance, sobbing-screaming and, in the climax, comes rushing towards the triumphant hero (read Tony) to give him a prize hug. Priyanka Chopra's Sapna does just that. By the way, doesn't the former beauty queen have a proper dress designer? She probably doesn't. That explains her lack of wardrobe in the film.

Cliché # 3
Car chases are mandatory to action potboilers. Although nowadays, chases are passé, blowing cars apart is in (watch Dhanoa's earlier flicks). So action-director Abbas Ali Moghul's introduces stunts which require Bobby to trample, toss and turn every sleek Mitsubishi Lancer in sight. Oddly enough, you will either see him drive a swanky Opel Astra or walking. Another blooper: Priyanka Chopra plays a singing sensation with umpteen die hard fans. But post-interval, her popularity nosedives. She is shown travelling in a local cabbie and sits casually on Juhu Beach. Yet no one notices her.

Cliché # 4
In Ziddi, Sunny Deol's brother (Sachin Khedekar) is thrown off the terrace of a building. In Salaakhen, Deol's father (Anupam Kher) shoots himself in the head due to unbearable humiliation. Borrowing a little from both, a disgraced character in Kismat jumps off the terrace of a building. Dhanoa has now copyrighted this cliché.

Cliché # 5
Post-suicide, it is redemption time for Tony. He decides to sort the mess. Tony goes on a shooting and bashing spree in true Sunny Deol ishtyle. He nails the real bad guy, Raj Vallya (Kabir Bedi sleepwalking through the bad guy routine), who sells outdated vaccines. Tony drags Vallya to court.

So like in most action films, this one too ends in the courtroom, with the Judge uttering the father of all clichés, "Tamam sabuton aur gavahon ke bayanat sunne ke baad, adalat iss natije pe pahunchi hai. [The evidence and witness statement lead the jury to take this decision]."

End of clichés. End of movie. End of bad luck.

CREDITS
Cast: Bobby Deol, Priyanka Chopra, Dr Mohan Joshi, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kabir Bedi, Smita Jaykar
Director: Guddu Dhanoa
Producer: Time Magnetics
Music: Anand Raj Anand
Lyrics: Dev Kohli
Dialogues: Dilip Shukla
Story & screenplay: Sutanu Gupta, Robin Bhatt


**** wasnt KHAKEE, IMPLAUSABLE!! ? ??? o:



Edited By arsh on 1077326217

Taran, likes, praises but honors *1/2..GO 4 IT RANA!

Kismat

By Taran Adarsh

First things first… How does one describe KISMAT? Does it have a path-breaking story? Or ground-breaking technique? Nah! Nothing of that sort!

KISMAT relies on the same old formulaic stuff the cinegoer has witnessed since time immemorial. Of course, it's presented in a new avatar. Simply put, it's an apt case of old wine in new bottle!

The story revolves around an orphan, Tony [Bobby Deol]. To survive in the concrete jungle, Tony learns to live by his wit and courage. Right from petty theft to loan recovery, Tony does everything for a price.

After earning a handsome packet in a bout where he had to risk his life, Tony visits a musical show to relax. But he is woken up from his slumber by the singer on the stage, Sapna [Priyanka Chopra].

It's love at first sight for Tony. But making the dream come true seems impossible. Tony is a hoodlum, while Sapna is a rising star. In fact, Sapna's parents have already fixed up her marriage to a boy from an affluent family [Amit Behl].

A heartbroken Tony decides to match up in status and ask for Sapna's hand from her family.

Around this time, Tony gets an offer to coerce a government officer into signing some papers. The money seems good and the work looks easy. Tony goes straight to Dr. Gosain's office [Mohan Joshi] and threatens to kill his family if Gosain doesn't sign on the dotted line.

Tony is unaware that Dr. Gosain is Sapna's father and his signature would allow the corrupt businessman, Raj Mallya [Kabir Bedi], to release his spurious drugs in the market. These drugs would eventually kill hundreds of innocent and get Dr. Gosain convicted for life and his family ostracised from the society.

Tony realises that he has committed a blunder. Sapna's father is put behind bars and her mother [Smita Jaykar] commits suicide. Tony has to undo the harm…

There's no denying that the story of KISMAT is as old as the hills. In fact, it won't be wrong to state that while Bollywood is undergoing a major revolution, with diverse subjects being attempted, writers Robin Bhatt and Sutanu Gupta seem to be finding it difficult to shed off the cinema of 1980s/1990s.

KISMAT is anything but novel. The story abounds in clichés… the sequence of events are outright predictable, so much so that the viewer can actually guess [predict?] what the next sequence would be like… there's a song coming up after every 20 minutes… the cars explode on highways like gas-balloons…

Despite the predictable nature, the film does have its moments. A few well crafted sequences do catch your attention, like the initial portions between Bobby and Priyanka and some vibrant stunts.

Though handicapped by a routine story, director Guddu Dhanoa makes an earnest effort to keep the show going. While the first half is quite interesting, he runs out of steam in the second half. For, the pace picks up and drops at an alarming regularity in this half.

While the pre-climax is interesting – when Kabir Bedi tortures Bobby – the end seems like a hurried job. Making the villain accept his misdeeds so easily is difficult to digest.

Anand Raaj Anand's music is an asset. And the picturisation of the songs only elevate the musical score. From the lot, 'Mahi Mahi Mahi' and 'Sajna Se Milne Jaana' can easily be singled out for their racy tunes. Priyanka's dances in these two numbers also deserve immense praise.

Sripad Natu's cinematography is upbeat. Action sequences are very well executed. In fact, a few stunts will gel well with the front-benchers especially.

After a hiatus of almost a year, Bobby Deol re-emerges with a likeable performance. He seems to be looking more comfortable in angry young man roles. One would've expect the heroine to look like a decorative item in a film like this, but Priyanka Chopra gets ample scope to display histrionics and she carries off her part with conviction.

The pack of villains – Kabir Bedi and Shahbaaz Khan – don't get much scope really. Kabir Bedi is suave as ever, conveying so much through his eyes. Shahbaaz Khan is okay. Ashish Vidyarthi is efficient. Mohan Joshi is adequate. Smita Jaykar is fair. Sanjay Narvekar [Bobby Deol's friend] is first-rate.

On the whole, KISMAT is a predictable fare that holds appeal for front-benchers mainly. For the gentry and the multiplex audiences, it has precious little to offer. However, its reasonable price should prove advantageous for its distributors.

Rating:- * ½.



Edited By arsh on 1077328077

With 7 excellent song-dance items, it's reason enough to see it in a good theatre.

Rana

Finally got to see this film in theatre.
Instead of 7, there were six and a half songs. (counting Thoda Resham Lagta Hai as half a song).

After seeing all the negative reviews, I had no expectations from the film. Went to see the film just for the songs.

First 2 songs (plus half song Thoda Resham---) Pasisa Vasool
Next two songs (before interval): tRIP COST VASOOL
Last two songs: Bonus.

Plus, at no time I/ we found the film boring. We found the film interesting.
So what if it has sequences similar to PAYBACK and FAIR GAME. Those films didn't have these 6 songs. Moreover, as film buffs if we can watch Payback repeatedly, why not a Hindi variation.

Theatre: The film is in DD. Theatre was dolby stereo. There definitely was ambience from surround speakers. As always, no bass at Woodside cinemas. There were plenty of blasts needing thunderous bass.

I wish I could see this film in a DD theatre.

Rana

BTW, My 5 tickets trippled the revenues for the show.
Khakee had a similar attendance. 4 or 5 viewers.
A Tamil film was also showing that had decent attendance (over 100).

Just found interstinig how much discrepancy is there between Reviewer's rating and Viewer's rating for the Film KISMAT. In case of all other recent films, it's reasonable, but in case of KISMAT, there is an astronomical difference.

http://www.planetbollywood.com/Film/

KISMAT
Reviewer = 4/10 Viewers = 9.3/10 (255 votes)

Ab Tak Chhapan
Reviewer = 7.5/10 Viewers = 7.4/10 (205 votes)

Tum
Reviewer = 3/10 Viewers = 3/10 (105 votes)

Paisa Vasool
Reviewer = 2.5/10 Viewers = 2.9/10 (141 votes)

Insaaf
Reviewer = 1.5/10 Viewers = 3.3/10 (213 votes)

Jaago
Reviewer = 7/10 Viewers = 5.8/10 (117 votes)

Rudraksh
Reviewer =5/10 Viewers = 6.9/10 (401 votes)

IPTB Indian
Reviewer = 5/10 Viewers = 7.2/10 (341 votes)

Aetbaar
Reviewer =6.5/10 Viewers = 7.3/10 (315 votes)

Paap
Reviewer = 4.5/10 Viewers = 6/10 (258 votes)

Ek Hasina Thi
Reviewer = 8.5/10 Viewers = 8.4/10 (745 votes)

Rana

Sarcasm right?

I sure hope so !!

Honest Opinion.

But, no chance at Oscars. GD didn't even recover half his money from this Film. I did. All of $ 4.50 ticket.

GD has no money left to promote it for the Oscars. Who cares about the Oscars. My $ 4.50 vasool is good enough.

Rana

it was sarcasm rana.

KISMAT looks like a bakwaas film to me.

After seeing the film in Theatre??

After seeing the film on TV??

Without seeing it??

Rana