Force

Admittedly, though it is unfair to compare Force to the film it is based on, Kaakha Kaakha starring Suriya (brilliant), it is also unavoidable. Let’s just move on by saying that compared to the Tamil blockbuster of 2003, Force is a rather distant second in terms of writing, fleshing out of characters, performances, cinematic craft and music – both in terms of quality of songs and their picturisations, and the background score. Criminal, considering director Nishikant Kamat had very strong base material to begin with and an opportunity to rectify flaws in the original – and they have tried in a couple of places- and go better besides having access to technology and cinematic equipment which has made gigantic improvements over the last 8 years. Bigger needn’t necessary be better as this film proves.

Yashvardhan (John Abraham) is a hard-headed senior narcotics officer who doesn’t play by the book but always ensures that justice is served. He believes that the only way to eradicate crime is to give criminals the bullet – not hand cuffs. In the midst of his most dangerous and significant operation to crack down on India’s drug cartels, Yashvardhan encounters a ruthless enemy (Vidyut Jammwal) who will stop at nothing until he gets his revenge for the damage done to his business by the narcotics team. Yashvardhan meets the free-spirited Maya (Genelia), whose love pushes him to make a choice between the life he already knows and the life he could have with her. Yashvardhan’s decision to let happiness and normalcy into his life changes his life forever…

Trying to look at it as a standalone film is not a very happy experience either. Still, one has to try. Force is curiously unengaging in its narrative flow, the characterisations are thin, the dialogues weak, the scene executions very ordinary, and most crucially, the two central performances incredibly bad – John’s beefcake muscles act more than his face while Genilia comes across as the ultimate bimbo (again!). She had the entire hall, with about 40 college kids, heckling and sniggering at her each time she opened her mouth. Worse, she and John share no chemistry whatsoever and their developing romance is one of the weaker aspects of the film as we see two embarrassingly bad non-performers play off each other. Only newcomer Vidyut creates somewhat of an impact having a seemingly strong screen presence. Other performers are strictly so-so, Monish Behl hamming away in the two scenes of ‘acting’ he has.

Sadly, for an A-1 Bollywood big budget venture, even the technicalities are disappointing. Camerawork is so-so, editing desperate to be obviously flashy, the songs, barring Khwabon Khwabon (and that is from the original – can’t avoid going back to Kaakha Kaakha can I?) are very average, and the picturisations nothing to write home about, while the background score is loud, unrelenting and hammering. On the positive side, a couple of the action sequences do pass muster.

Still, the basic material of this film might still make it watchable and maybe even likeable enough for those who have not seen the original and like previous Suriya starrers (there is some definite thought to his selection of scripts) – Ghajini and Singam, which were remade in Hindi and which were also infinitely inferior to the originals but huge blockbusters, Force, too, could do quite well at the box-office – especially as its competition seems quite weak in spite of multiple releases and the film has opened reasonably well. Which means Bollywood producers are more than likely to turn to Suriya’s other ‘action successes’ to remake. Watch out now for remakes of Vel, Ayan and Aadhavan… Ooof!