Sunil Malhotra gets it all wrong.
From the moment an old tired Jackie Shroff slowly makes his way out of prison
to tell the most avoidable family saga drenched in blood and spat to the finale
when he sheds litres of happy tears this is a script gone wrong, terribly,
terribly wrong.
The lethargic tale just does not know where to draw the line. It fails to
create any empathy for the tears nor admiration for their quasi professional
skills. Resultantly the warring siblings in the ring leave a dead taste. The
film is emotionally confusing as the film maker cannot make out if he is
appealing to your adrenaline or to your lachrymal glands.
Perhaps all the violence in the name of the sport is a justification in itself
but even there Sunil Malhotra fails miserably as he seeks to make an
emotionally manipulative compromise between the text of the tale the art and
science of the game in R2F and hurries to satiate a collective demand for
‘human sentiment’ without which it is believed our cinemas will never ever make
it to the Rs. 100 Crores club.
Dad Fernandez (Jackie Shroff) is just out of prison having served a sentence
for uxoricide. Actually Dad loves Mom (Shefali Shah – in arguably her worst
performance) but the liquor in his system did him in. Fernandez has two sons
from as many relationships: the sober David (Akshay) and the rebel without
cause Monty (Sidharth). David actually teaches Physics in the local school till
he is caught with his boxing shots indulging in organised ‘street fights’. He
does the overtime from the compulsions of the family budget which requires the
extra moolah for kid daughter’s kidney ailment. Wife (Jacqueline) has to weep
her way through the script as the brothers part as kids across the funeral of
Mom Fernandez. But for a couple of times when they meet up and scowl at each
other they are scheduled to meet up at the all India finals of the Right to
Fight tournament organised by Braganza (Kiran Kumar – in horrendous red ties
and a cigar). In the finale Sunil Malhotra decides to salute the Bard and thus
establishes in the most unwarranted and convoluted manner that blood is thicker
than water and alas even more freely available!!
With a script that meanders and a director who is brazen but confused the
actors are lost. The likes of Jackie Shroff any way come with not a great
repute to save or savour. He hams from the word go and is hapless with a role
that calls for far greater understanding and interpretation than he is capable
of. A case of miscasting. Siddharth Malhotra is constantly staring and
wondering how he got waylaid in this blood drenched script. And not without
justification. He makes as much effort as he can. He growls and flexes muscle –
the only two things he is called upon to do. Akshay Kumar is the one saving grace.
He is willing to experiment. He is not the actor who goes to town talking about
the variation in the roles he is called upon to perform. Yet he is one who is
comfortable being in a comedy, an emotional drama or an action thriller. He
keeps the track going in a scenario where even Shefali Shah fails. Kudos for
that and nothing else.
A character in the film says: Duniya badi zalim hai master, dard pe hasti hai!!
Here is the film maker’s way of laughing at the audience.
Rating: 1.5 stars
+ Akshay
– Violence and script.
L. Ravichander.