Krrish (क्रिश)(Hindi, 2006)

आओ सुनाऊं बोरियत की एक कहानी
फ़िल्म इतनी पकाऊ कि याद आ गयी मुझे नानी

I so, so wanted to write a "Indian cinema has arrived" review to this movie. A major fan of superheroes, a major fan of the kind of cinema which makes you forget the limitations of world around me, I had been eagerly awaiting the "Indian Superhero" movie. Koi Mil Gaya had given Hritik a chance to show his acting skills and he had performed A+, so was looking forward to the same magic. Alas, it was not to be.

The story - It is debatable whether the last Chacha Chowdhary comic book I read was more imaginative than this or not, but certainly the film fails to rise anywhere to an intelligent level. The plot goes like this - the powers which Jadoo gave to Rohit in Koi Mil Gayaa are passed on to his son, Krishna (Hritik Roshan) through birth. Rohit has supposedly died in an accident while his mother (Rekha) believes he has been killed and hence hides her grandson and his powers from the world in a remote mountain village. One day, Priya (Priyanka Chopra) comes to that village and Krishna falls in love. Priya gets Krishna to travel to Singapore with the intention of showing his powers on her news channel and hence getting a promotion. Krishna goes to Singapore, takes on the mantle of a masked superhero Krrish, finds out that his father is not actually killed but is being held hostage by an evil entrepreneur (Naseeruddin Shah), and takes revenge for his father, all this meanwhile singing a lot of songs with Priya and making her fall in love with him.

The performances - Great Actors, all wasted. Naseer, were you under some debt from Rakesh Roshan that you had to do this film? And Rekha, forget sparing us, please spare yourself from such roles. The movie first half is dominated by Rekha whining "बेटा मैं तुम्हें दुनिया से बचाना चाहती हूँ" (Son, I want to save you from this cruel world) and second half with Naseer grinning "Breaking news! Dr. Arya भगवान बन गयें हैं" (has become God). Please excuse me for saying so, but the acting level of Indian TV serials is better these days. I never thought a day will come when I have to day that Naseer's and Rekha's performances looked so tired.

Saving Grace - Hritik's performance, songs, cinematography in Indian Hills and Special effects. Hritik is a real superhero anyway. Great body, good looks, dances superbly, acts well, and is very much "into" the role he is playing. He actually manages to portray a man who knows he has super powers, is basically nice at heart and always ready to help people but is entirely unsure of how to deal with the world. Rajesh Roshan comes up with brilliant songs for this movie - Aao sunau pyaar ki ek kahani and Koi tumsa nahin are brilliant, pyar na kiya is good. The cinematography is very good in most of the Bollywood movies these days, and this film lives upto expectations, especially for the Indian Hills part. Singapore, inspite of promotions by the start cast for Singapore Tourism Board, does not come across as very appealing. And finally, the special effects. Forget the superhero effects during chases and fights and jumping around buildings. There is a scene in the movie where Priyanka's parachute gets caught in a very tall tree and she starts falling to ground, and Hritik jumps over trees and catches her high in air and then they land together on ground. The sheer poetry of the scene arising out of the special effects here was enchanting. I am almost ready to forgive Rakesh Roshan for this movie for that one scene.

Recommendation - Go watch it, because the special effects will look good only on a large screen. But do not go in with high expectations.
Rating - ✔✔