30 March,2013 06:13 AM IST | | Janhavi Samant
It isn't difficult to tell that intellectually this film will appeal bestu00a0only to five-year-olds and true B-Grade film buffs. After all, this filmu00a0has a song called 'Bum Pe Laath', which has wedding guests kicking theu00a0heroine and her goons in the ass to the tune of the Birdie song.
There is a reason that the '80s were considered to be the worst decade inu00a0the history of Hindi films. The Kader Khan 'jism ki imaarat mein faulad keu00a0iraade' type of metaphors, the matkas and the jangling temple bells, theu00a0exploitative zamindar, the widowed and victimised mother, andu00a0about-to-be-raped or married-cum-tortured sister and the divine Devi Mau00a0intervention at the climax - we know these cliches by heart. The all new,u00a0advanced Himmatwala rounds up all these props together, almostu00a0systematically ticking them off one by one as its story progresses, into anu00a0implausible story.
Ajay Devgn andu00a0Tamannaahu00a0in a still from the song 'Tathaiya Tathaiya' in Himmatwala.u00a0
So here is the story of Ravi, who has returned afteru00a0God-knows-how-many-years to Ramnagar to take revenge on village bad-manu00a0Sher Singh for having wrongly accused his poojari father of theft andu00a0driving his family out of the village. But Ravi is a himmatwala, shorthandu00a0for brawn power that can break open locks with a punch, defeat dozens ofu00a0henchmen in half a dozen Indian languages and even talk sense into a tigeru00a0by saying, "If you stay back to eat these oppressed half-dead villagers,u00a0you'll be dieting. If you go to the jungle, you'll die eating."
Soon Ravi is able to score one or two over Sher Singh and his comicu00a0sidekick Narayandas by slipping crabs in their pants so they can show theiru00a0break-dance skills. There is also a whip-wielding mini-skirt clad shrewishu00a0heroine (bad-man's daughter who claims with great aplomb, "I hate u00a0
garibs."), who has to be taught a lesson in love. Well, you know the drill.u00a0There's nothing in Sajid Khan's film that we haven't seen before in the
video ages or in television spoofs over the last few years.
Clearly this is the director's best film so far. But while it is funny and entertaining in recreating that period, Khan's version is unable to decide whether it is a comic tribute to that age of trashy sagas, an outright spoof or just a plain remake. It makes a dull start but picks up pace with the help of Paresh Rawal and Devgn's slapstick timing, even appearing to laugh at itself. However by the thick of the second half, the film having showed all its Aces and Jokers, slips into the familiar melodrama and the angst of the '80s.
Ajay Devgn's in top alpha-male action-comedy form. Tamannaah looks freshu00a0and pretty. Paresh Rawal's Kader Khan take-off absolutely rocks. The songs
are a let-down; other than the classics Nainon mein sapna and Taki ho, theu00a0music is pretty much forgettable. As it is, the original Himmatwala was no masterpiece. But catch it if youu00a0are feeling nostalgic about heroes wearing white-trousers and jackets and talking of garibi and badla.
