Promising story but doesn't live upto it!. Review on Naksha

Sushma Reddy deserves the award for the most appropriate outfit ever worn in a movie: a short black skirt with some disco top, when she has the frail task of climbing hills, white water rafting and other such tame stuff.

There are many things wrong with the movie, but I am going to start with what’s right.

The story holds a lot of promise. It’s an interesting thought. Assuming that the Mahabharata is true and not just an extremely elaborate, fictional fable of Mr. Valmiki, one has to wonder, what happened to all the paraphernalia used? What happened to the most mystical belongings of that time: karna’s kavach and kundal? And, hence, I admit the question intrigues me. The thought of it being buried somewhere in the hills of Uttaranchal, does tickle my nose. And for posing this unasked question, the movie deserves one star. Another star for the animation bit. They have recreated the whole Mahabharata sequence convincingly well, and I think it works better with animation, anyway.

Now, having devoted a para to the right part, it’s time to devote a page to what’s wrong.

The editing sucks big time. The movie is long and unbearable in parts where it should be crisp and has many unnecessary scenes of special effects, which truly, truly irritate. I don’t need those heavy sound effects every time Sunny Deol raises his fists. I can imagine that they hurt. I even hated many action scenes in the movie for being too long and for not raising my adrenaline. The camaraderie, the banter between the lead actors was very weak. There were many things the writer could have done away with, Sushma Reddy, for example. And the angle of Vivek and Sunny being half-brothers. Why couldn’t they have been real brothers? And how come Vivek knew so much Sanskrit? What was his background?

Either ways.

One last thing, before I go to pop a Dispirin, Uttaranchal is a drop-dead gorgeous place. Some aerial shots don’t do justice to it.