Nov 26, 2008 03:39 PM
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I had no expectations from this film since the film looked like a funny product from its promos itself. Nevertheless, I saw this flick just to have a good laugh! Also, the controversy surrounding the film made me curious to see it. And as expected, Deshdrohi is below the mark. The film has several loose ends and its lead actor, Kamaal Rashid Khan, delivers one of the worst performances of this year!
The story of the movie: Raja (Kamaal Rashid Khan) lives in small village in Uttar Pradesh. His father (Ranjeet) hates him and is always criticizing Raja. Only his grandfather understood Raja and his problems. But after his grandfather’s death, life becomes even more miserable for Raja and he runs away to Mumbai, in search of a good job and a better life. His friend Shekhar (Manoj Tiwari) from his village had told Raja how his fortunes changed after he came to Mumbai. But Raja was shocked to see in Mumbai that Shekhar had lied and he was just a watchman in a building. Also, Raja was disappointed to see atrocities inflicted on North Indians in the city. Meanwhile, Raja befriends Sonia (Gracy Singh) and while trying to save her from the goons, he accidentally kills one of them. Unfortunately for Raja, that person was dreaded politician Rajan Nayak’s (Mukesh Tiwari) brother. Soon, Raja finds himself being used by politicians of different political parties for their gains. How Raja takes revenge from these ‘Deshdrohi’ politicians and proves his innocence forms the pre-climax and climax of this film.
Deshdrohi’s first half was unbearable! There were too many songs in the first hour and in each song, Kamaal Khan would be dancing in a weird way which made for a torturous viewing! Also the director/writer took so many cinematic liberties. And the flaws are unending! Viewers doesn’t come to know why Raja’s father hated him so much, to the extent that his father even says “Aaj mein tera khoon pi jaoonga…aankhein nikaal doonga teri!” Then there was a scene when Raja rejects Shekhar’s offer of becoming a watchman on the pretext that he hasn’t come to Mumbai to do such petty jobs. In the next scene, we see Raja becoming a helper to a vegetable seller! There are many more such instances in the first half!
However, the film’s second hour was watchable. The political games played by Aman Verma was well executed. The climax was good too. Also, the film nicely depicts the problems of the migrants coming to Mumbai in search of a good job, inspite of being illiterate.
And as far as the film being banned in Maharashtra, I feel it is one of the most foolish decisions taken by Maharashtra Government! The film is hardly provocative and it’s highly impossible that it would create law and order problem in the state. Also, the film throws light on the corruption and politics and not even once sends out message of hatred to people of any region.
Kamaal Rashid Khan was a total mismatch for his role. Firstly, he doesn’t look like a 20 or 22 year old college dropout! Secondly, he hardly can act! Neither does he dance well. You may be wondering how an actor like Kamaal bagged the leading role. Well, it’s because he is also the producer of this film and therefore, it was an easy task for him to cast himself in the leading role! And he’s fooling people by writing in the credits that this is his debut film. He had already acted in a film called Sitam (2005), which was again produced by him. Mr KRK, you can fool others, but you can’t fool Fenil Seta!
Gracy Singh plays her part well but her role in the film was baffling. Her character Sonia is shown riding a dirt bike in the city and bashing up local goons for harassing people. And then she says “Mein ye sab apne goonge bhai ke parvarish ke liye kar rahi hoon!” Bewildering!!
Aarti Chhabaria as Neha was great. It’s disappointing to see such a charming actress working in such films. Zulfi Syed (as Inspector Rohit Raghav) was undoubtedly the best performer in the film! He looked every inch a dashing cop and came with an impressive performance. Manoj Tiwari was likeable. Aman Verma as Sanjay Srivastav was terrific! In fact, the villainous role suited him to the T! Yashpal Sharma, Mukesh Tiwari, Nirmal Pandey, Kader Khan, Shiva and Avtaar Gill were alright. Aryan Vaid looked stupid in the item number track. He didn’t even look like a villager! Kim Sharma and Rozza Catalano add to the glamour quotient with their item number.
Music by Nikhil and Pramod Nair was okay. The only song worth listening is the song ‘Maaf Karna’ picturised on Rozza. Action sequences, in some scenes, were over the top!
Kamaal Rashid Khan also wrote the lyrics, dialogues, story and screenplay of the film! The story was inspired from Kurukshetra, Vaastav and Jodi No.1. Screenplay was nothing novel and had several flaws. Only a selected few dialogues leave a mark. Jagdish Sharma’s direction was nothing great.
On the whole, Deshdrohi is nothing special. Had it released in 90s, it may have become a big blockbuster. But still the film has a chance of running successfully in the single screens of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar since the film has everything the masses yearn for-action, item numbers, patriotic dialogues and much more! And for the rest of the people, it’s better to avoid it!
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