Mother India????. Review on Shikhar

I have learned a lesson the hard way... the second movie of most directors disappoints. First came Home Delivery, which still gives me nightmares when I think about it.... and now Shikhar. I am feeling silly writing a review about a movie which shouldnt be talked about at all.... but if I can save a quid and some mental trauma of other readers, then my effort will be worth it.

Well, I am going to reveal the story of the movie, so if you are interested in watching it, please take an aspirin, skip my review and go ahead. The plot of the movie is nothing much to talk about. We have seen hundreds of Hindi movies in which the Zameendar wants to ''Hadap'' the zameen of the poor ''Gaonwallas''. Now this movie has it in the form of an aggressive builder -Ajay Devgan-who has the hots for a sundar zameen of the poor adivasis, and has a corrupt minister assisting him. An Industrialist-cum-modern day sadhu, who goes all out to save the villagers, fails because the builder seduces his son-Shahid Kapoor by ''sharaab'' and ''shabaab''. The guruji gets tired and runs away from it all, bringing back the ''akkal'' of the son... who with the help of some antics and action, brings justice to the gaonwallas....

This is the story, and if its newness appeals to you, by all means please go ahead and watch the movie. It is laced with heavy doses of environmental protection, and ''save trees'' dialogues.... which, though get the message across, start getting on your nerves. To its credit, the movie keeps some pace till the interval, but after interval, it seems that the movie goes on till eternity... Maybe Mr. John Matthan thought that if he cannot provide a quality film, atleast he would end up keeping the people in cinema halls for 3 long hours, thus giving value for money. Please Mr. Director, stop taking all of us for a ride... If there is such a dearth of scrips, start surfing the net for one, or ask Mr. Amir Khan to direct a movie in your name.

Ajay Devgan has got some good dialogues in the first half, and is the saving grace of the sinking movie. There are a few good comic scenes, which manage to bring a smile on the face, especially that of Sushant, who acts as a pure hindi speaking MA.LLB. Songs are hopeless. Shahid Kapoor has a shahrukh khan hangover, and tries to mimic Mr. Devdas by crying and roaming around in forests in a white kurta, and shouting ''baba'' .... It would have seemed authentic if he had screamed for ''Paro''

Most of the dialogues seem like lessons in moral science, and it seems that the characters of the movie are preaching to the audience, and not talking to each other. It is better to watch Mother India, or umpteen number of Mithun, Amitabh or Vinod Khanna starrers with the same theme. Even better, if you want to support the director financially, please watch Sarfarosh again.

And the next time some hit director makes a second movie, I am going to watch it only after it gets rave reviews from Mouthshut.com....

Best of luck and god help you if you go to watch the movie. And the ''original and good plot'' rating below is a feeble attempt at satire.........