Elaan

E L A A N
An assertive Declaration and Proclamation

Director: Vikram Bhatt

Cast: Mithun Chakraborty

Arjun Rampal

Amisha Patel

Rahul Khanna

Lara Dutta

John Abraham
**Review By Dr Usman Latif Khawaja**
Review:
This urban modern day reworking of the Sippy’s classic works primarily as it scours the prodigal body of law and order and questioning the effete judiciary as well as making some very relevant comments on the international extradition treaties, but it has a crisp script and a fine narrator as Vikram Bhatt who stylishly translates this dark but fast paced thriller onto the silver screen.

The modern tale of a menacing, cold, calculating mastermind criminal is played by a highly charged Mithun who looks every bit the international criminal who publicly announces the assassination of a billionaire for ransom and then executes it while making a mockery of the law and order, his malignant smile, mean sneer and panther like posture are enough to make this a truly dark character as evil as Hannibal Lecter, this is a stellar act and he walks away with the highest plaudits, but Rahul Khanna as the bereaving son who must reap justice for his fathers soul is superb too as the quiet and shy but extremely intelligent youth who recruits a brilliant ex army mastermind to plan the vendetta, played with Elan by Arjun Rampal as the single parent with a young daughter and they are accompanied by John Abraham, a conniving, but cunning criminal who joins the group for lust and greed.

The weakest link are the 2 female leads, while Lara Dutta as Abraham’s femme fatale Mata Hari lookalike girlfriend as a dancing diva injects the movie with a lethal dose of glamour, Amisha as the investigative journalist posing to be Rahul khanna’s lover is very ineffective as are the romantic production numbers which mar and hamper the narrative.

But the visual splendours are enough to make up for these shortcoming as the thriller progress from Mumbai to a gondola chase in venetian canals and a motorbike-lorry sequence caught on an alpine freeway against a panorama which puts bond to shame.

The movie is darkly yet atmospherically shot from Italy to the Bavarian heartland and the gunfights are breathtakingly staged on the snow capped alpine slopes with a technical finesse rarely seen in Hindi cinema, it is here that the soul of this erstwhile classic is imbued with its urban metaphysical form as the style and content come together with a brilliant director and an ensemble cast.

This is one of the most alluring products from the Bhatt stable and despite somewhat hurried and makeshift finales; it is a worthy successor to its classic predecessor.

The socio political comments on the Indian judiciary and the establishments impotency to protect a victim or punish the aggressor are chillingly narrated in a highly affective manner and this makes an effective declaration of a great proclamation an eye for an eye and while some may argue that can make the whole world blind, I would rather live in a blind world rather then an unjust world.

This is how you execute a criminal and an erstwhile classic when you are remaking Sholay’s and Dons, the only other Hindi thriller made by the talented Farhan Akhtar which was even better then this fine product in totally overshadowing its predecessor even though the original products are just as credible as the remakes, but they have to be executed with a vision and finesse and not just technical wizardry which while exciting can lead to a damp squid like recent remakes.

Usman Khawaja