More than describing the protagonist
as courageous, it is the audience that requires a certain amount of courage
(read indiscretion) to get to the theatres to watch, sit through and endure the
film. Well, what do you expect from a remake of a loud garish formula film of the
1980s when revisited with the calibre of Sajid Khan? A repeat of it all,
obviously. At least the filmmaker cannot be blamed beyond a point. He has a: I
told you written all over. In retrospect, it also reflects how somewhere how we
are stuck with our paradigms of entertainment. What you choose to revisit,
reflects not just your taste but your perspective. Himatwalla, the original was
an unpretentious embarrassment. Now we return to salute it!! If it were not
Sajid, we could have seen it as a parody of the genre. Here it is perceived as
entertainment. In addition to Taaaki re takre and Tathaiya thathiya, we have as
an improvement: bum pe laath!! Well journeyed! Historic return! Rich tribute!!
To the uninitiated Himatwallah deals with this strong muscle flexing
protagonist Ravi (Jeetendra/Ajay Devgan) who takes on the local feudal lords
and uses violence as the antidote to the crudities of their life style. Ravi
returns to his village after over two decades or even more if you have your
calculator in place and work on his age qua the time he left the village after
Dad (Anil Dhavan) was wrongly accused of theft of temple jewellery and chose to
hang himself. The villains are the local landlord and his brother in law (Amjad
Khan and Kader Khan, now Mahesh Manjrekar and Paresh Rawal). He notices that
Mama Savithri (Waheeda Rehman now replaced by colleague from Rajmundry and the
new Mom on the block at Bollywood Zarina Wahab) is living in penury after being
ostracised. Of course for company she has sitting duck daughter Padma (Swaroop
Sampath/Leena Jumani). Our star trek includes the feudal lord’s haughty
daughter Rekha (Sreedevi/Tamanaha) and the son of the thakur’s brother in law
the nameless (Shakti Kapoor/ Adhyayan Suman). Film goers know that the siblings
on the Savithri side will soon be struck by cupid and for victims they have
members from the opposite camp.
With Padma being used as a pawn in the fully blown dispute between the families
tables are turned with Rekha and Ravi in love and feigning to be on the family
way. With the feudal lords walking the extra mile to ensure that the family
izzat is in place, the exploiters are the winners.
The script goes, the stunts would make Rajni blush. The cast has obviously been
schooled with the earlier version. They have nothing to live up to. Great
actors like Amjad and Waheeda were caricatures in the original, now you have
lesser mortals walking the journey with ease. Tamanaa is not magic and the film
is surely not likely to enhance her repute or chances at the BO. Ajay Devgan
growls sulks and walks from habit.
Vulgarity touches an all-time low with a cot sharing scene involving Mahesh and
Paresh. This is how we entertain ourselves with a script that goes berserk and
rejoices with violence. This is bound to reflect on the streets of our country.
We lament at the lack of safety to women in India, we talk about corruption and
gender exploitation, or goons and violence galore on our streets. This film is
a salute to it all. Watch this at the cost being embarrassed for choosing it or
enjoying it!!
L. Ravichander.