Movie Review

Aks...


Movie Review:Aks Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Raveena Tandon, Nandita Das, K.K. Raina, Amol Palekar Music:Anu Malik Director:Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra Producer: ABCL Lyrics: Gulzar

The movie starts with the visit of the Indian Defence Minister to Hungary. Manu Verma (Amitabh

Bachchan) is the head of security for Defence Minister Amol Palekar. Manu is portrayed as such an officer who would go to any length to achieve his goals. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to Raghavan (Manoj Bajpai), a soldier, a mercenary, whose goal is to kill the Defence Minister. He is a master at disguises and has fooled many people into believing that he is someone that he is not. Raghavan enjoys killing people and sticks to one particular style of doing it. After each killing, he utters the famous shlokas of Bhagwad Gita "Koi marta nahi, koi marata nahi".

Mahadevan (K.K. Raina) is his brother who happens to be a psycho and has the gift of making masks. Neeta (Raveena Tandon) plays his girlfriend and a club dancer. Manu Verma's family comprises of his wife Supriya (Nandita Das) and a daughter.

Raghavan succeeds in killing the Defence Minister. After accomplishing this, his next target becomes the Prime Minister. Again, Manu is in charge of the Prime Minister's security and safety this time. But before Raghavan could achieve this, he is caught by Manu and put behind bars. Manu manages to kill Raghavan when he tries to escape. This forms the interval of the film but this is when the real story begins.

Raghavan’s spirit enters Manu’s body and continues to achieve his goals making Manu do all his bad deeds. He commits one crime after another. Neeta is grief-stricken and Supriya notices the change in her ‘husband’. Supriya and Manu then try to get Manu cured of Raghavan's spirit off Manu's body. Eventually,

there is a triumph of good over evil but the way it all happens is something to be seen.

The performances by Amitabh Bachchan in his role of a character taken over by a ghost is astounding. Manoj Bajpai has acted well enough to show his versatility. He has done a tremendous job with his unique look and style. As for Raveena, luck is on her side these days. But it would be unfair to say that it is luck alone. She has put her best into this limited role of hers and deserves decent appreciation. Nandita Das has done a competent job and has tried her best to instill life into the small role of Amitabh Bachchan's wife. But we all know that her talent is much more and has not been well utilised.

Technically also, the movie is excellent. The picturisations of songs like 'Aaja Gufaaon Mein' and 'Yeh

Raat' are great. The technical brilliance is proved in the scene where Manu looks at himself in the mirror. Choreography is spectacular and the foreign dancers have done a good job. Kiran Deohan is also a mastermind for his excellent cinematography. Action by Allan Amin of Mission Kashmir is well carried out. Anu Malik's songs are ok and will take some time to catch on. The poetic compositions and innovative lyrics by Gulzar come to life very well on the screen. Director Rakesh Mehra mesmerises the audience with his precise scenes and storyline. This is his first motion picture.

All in all, Aks is a must see film for reasons like Amitabh is in one of his best roles, this kind of movie is rare in Bollywood history, great performances by Manoj Bajpai and Raveen Tandon, a chance to see Amol Palekar once again ........... are these not reasons enough