‘Thoofan’: Fails to cross the shore Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Aag’, Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Don’, and Karan Malhotra’s ‘Agneepath’ have never lived up to the expectations of the original or so the critics say. The biggest challenge for a filmmaker, who did or is remaking a cult classic, has always been to engage the audience with the narrative since everybody is aware of the plot, even though it is set in the contemporary era with necessary cosmetics. If Varma flopped miserably with his ‘Aag’, Farhan and Karan managed to achieve some success with their modern remakes of India’s most worshipped films. However, with Apoorva Lakhia, the director of ‘Thoofan’ who has remade ‘Zanjeer’, it’s a different story as he too like his peers gives the film his own makeover but fails to achieve at least 50 per cent of what they’ve achieved. Apoorva sets the stage for a Ram Charan showcase, but ends up giving a product which never satisfies our appetite. Inspector Vijay Khanna (Ram Charan), or Thoofan as he’s fondly called, is transferred to Mumbai from Hyderabad. Sincerity and dedication is to be blamed. This is his 22nd transfer in his five- year-career. He operates from Yellow Stone Police station (don’t know whether it indeed exits in Mumbai) and is asked to investigate the murder case of a deputy collector. Mala (Priyanka), an NRI girl, who happens to be the murder site, passes the information to police before trying to get back to US. Vijay, who stops her plans for a while, discovers that the collector is murdered as he was unearthing the oil mafia racket. As he has no evidence, he takes the help of Sher Khan (Sree Hari) to nab the guy who burns the collector alive. Vijay eventually puts him behind the bars but sensing a danger, the oil mafia kingpin Teja (Prakash Raj) works with the police and kills Vijay’s prized catch in the cell. As the culprit dies in the cell, Vijay is suspended pending an enquiry. What next? This could have been an adrenaline pumping and a roller-coaster ride had if not for Apoorva’s vision. He takes time to get into the core proceedings and when you feel that it’s time that he shifts to fifth gear, he stills plays the waiting game. Absurd! The original as a subject was new for our audience and with solid performances, it attainted a classic status. Over here, Apoorva’s biggest fault lies with the fact he fails to weave a screenplay that is modern and meets the demands of the viewers who’ve had the experience of watching the original. Why should they come again when they know that the protagonist kills the antagonist or they are made to visualise that indeed that it will ensue? In simple terms, he falls short of engaging the viewer with his narration when it simply was the call. ‘Zanjeer’ as a film also placed Salim-Javed on top ranks as dialogue writers. ‘Thoofan’ too has some lines which are power-packed. Dialogues referring to ‘Magadheera’- Nalalugella kritham na capacity 100, eppudu 200 and Naa gurinchi naku chepthane naku nachchadi from Prakash Raj’s mouth are some gems from the flick. Ram Charan gives his best to the role. But compare it with Bachchan, he fails to arrest you with his demeanor and presence- the way Bachchan did. The trademark glare of Bachchan which he pulled off so effortlessly goes big time in ‘Thoofan’. The camaraderie between Cherry and Hari is synthetic. Priyanka Chopra’s looks, more than performance, catches your attention. Blame it to her sketchyrole. However, it’s Prakash Raj who scores above all in this cop drama. As the menacing oil mafia kingpin and as the object of interest of Mona (Mahie Gill), he delivers a punching performance. The chemistry he shares with Mahie leaves us asking for more. On the whole, this remake, which the makers propagated as a tribute to Bachchan, never crosses the shore, to leave its impact, devastating impact to be precise!
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 07:28:28 +0000