Himmatwala

The film-goers are split into two parts when it comes to remakes, there are people who feel the old classics should not be touched and remade while there are others who feel there is no harm in picking up an old film and remaking it with a fresh angle to it so that young generation can also see it. While both may be right in their own way, I am sure that even this latter group would never understand the need of remake of a film like Himmatwala which was neither a classic nor the best of masala entertainers. Yes it had worked in 1983 but that was then….why is there a need to bring up that kind of story in today’s time. Sajid Khan tries to do that in the name of entertainer and ends up making an unbelievingly ridiculous film. The tag line of the film is “80’s will be back” and after watching this film, you want to ask why, let us remain in current times.

The film is set in 1983 in a village where Shersingh (Mahesh Manjrekar) is ruling over the innocent villagers by his muscle power. There enters Ravi (Ajay Devgn) who had run out of village as a kid but now returns back as angry young man to meet his mother and sister and to avenge the death of his father. He then falls in love with Shersingh’s daughter, sings few songs and fights thirty goons at same time at least ten times. And all this goes on till every possible trick in the name of providing masala is over.

While there is nothing wrong in making a brainless commercial film and I am also all for it but it should at least do what it is made for…..entertain. Himmatwala doesn’t do that even one bit. There is nothing at all that works in this film. The story of a good guy-bad villain is beaten to death, the screenplay is so utterly poor that fifteen minutes into the film and you want to come out, the dialogues are so overly melodramatic that even serious scenes end up becoming unintentionally funny, the jokes are so bad that even Ajay Devgn comments “bad joke” after he has cracked one himself, the songs despite two numbers from original film are hardly hummable, the action gets monotonous coming every fifteen minutes, the humour of Asrani and Paresh Rawal is irritating, the villain who is supposed to be terror to villagers is actually nothing short of a joker, the hero’s sister gets more footage than the heroine, and the entire setting of village, costumes, wigs, is sore to the eyes.

In terms of acting, everyone pitches in with one of the worst performances of their careers. I will be surprised if good actors like Ajay Devgn, Zareena Wahab, Paresh Rawal aren’t embarrassed about their work here. Tamannah makes an utterly forgettable debut in Hindi films, she is neither beautiful nor can act.

Sajid Khan has made utterly stupid, idiotic and nonsensical films in the past too with Housefull 1 and 2 but compared to this one, those would start counting as classics now. This film not only bores you to death but shocks you with its absurdity and leaves you wondering as to how a film like this can be made.

Cinema Analyst's Take – so bad that it will require some “Himmat” for you to sit through this. Its only March but this would easily remain the worst film of this year.

P.S. – There is a song in the film with lyrics “Maaro Bum Pe Laat”. After watching it, you would want to meet Sajid Khan once.