Apne Hindi Movie

Jun 29, 2007 By Ashok Nayak

The director of the Historic Gadar, Anil Sharma is back with 'Apne'. Anil has managed to rope in a casting coup of sorts. Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol share screen space together for the very first time. Is 'Apne' a good movie? Read on...

'Apne' is about a family, their bonding, dreams and desires. Baldev Singh Choudhary (Dharmendra) won the silver medal in Olympics for boxing and his only dream was to become the world heavyweight champion. But unfortunately fate has something else in store for him. While he was in US for the boxing competition, the betting mobsters conspired against him and leveled charges of doping because of which he got banned from boxing for 15 years. He wants to fulfill his dreams by training his older son Angad and make him the boxing champion. After giving boxing a try, Angad realizes the scope for Boxing in India is very limited. So he aspires to do something else and fails to fulfill his father's dreams. Baldev's younger son Karan comes to the aid of the disheartened father and decided to fulfill his dream. When happiness starts to blossom in the family, fate plays cruel tricks in their life's and things again get messed up. Will the family live happily forever?

Anil Sharma is back in form once again after 2 disasters ('The Hero' and 'Ab tumare hawale watan saathiyo') and has handled a number of sequences very well. The emotional scenes between Sunny and Dharmendra are brilliant. But the second half drags endlessly, especially the climax. A few scenes from the second half can be chopped off for better impact. The music by Himesh Reshammiya is a disappointment, though the title track is good. Cinematography is simply mesmerizing. The 'kheth' (Fields) of Punjab has been captured in all its glory.

Now the performances. Dharmendra is simply outstanding. He delivers a heart warming performance. His expressions in the emotional scenes are priceless. Sunny Deol is good. He has performed very well in the emotional scenes while sharing screen space with his dad. Bobby Deol, the miracle boy in the movie, makes sure no miracles happen when it comes to his performance. He is consistent throughout, although he doesn't look like a boxer any which way you look at him. Kiron Kher and Shilpa Shetty make their presence felt. Katrina Kaif is wasted.

Overall, its Dharmendra's show all the way. At the box-office, the movie will take a huge opening in the north, were the Deols command a great fan following. Business should be best in the north while the release of 2 other big movies should affect its collections all over.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Watch it for Dharmendra)