ONLY TEENAGERS LIKE HIMESH AS MONTY
By Eye TV India Bureau
Critic's I-view
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'Karzzzz' is one more remake of Subhash Ghai's 80's hit under the same title. This time, Himesh Reshammiya who is a singer turned music director turned actor has tried to imitate the original version, but with slight changes as demanded by the change of period. The story of the remake isn't much different, though. While Ghai's vamp was Kamini Verma played by Simi Grewal who crushes under the wheels of her car her lover Raj Verma played by Raj Kiran, the new version sees Kamini played by Urmila Matondkar killing her billionaire lover Dino Morea in the latter's private helicopter.
And, that's right; 80's car killer needs to be a helicopter killer during the 21st century. Another slight change is seen in the movie's shooting . Ghai shot the movie in Oooty's beautiful environment in India, while Satish Kaushik has moved outside the country to Cape Town of South Africa, to give the African capital's glimpses to the present viewers who look forward for international locales. Monty, the central character, remains the same; though Ghai had Rishi Kapoor a talented actor to play this role, Kaushik's movie has Himesh a singer turned rock actor to do it.
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Rishi Kapoor did it wonderfully well, but Himesh hasn't left any stone unturned and has thus won the hearts of teenagers, at least by his rock star acting. The sixty percent opening of the movie proves this beyond doubt. Urmila Matondkar has fared her role excellently well. Danny Danzongpa, who plays Tina's guardian, is fine as ever. Urmila too does her role exceedingly well. The cinematography department has done very well in capturing the final helicopter scene, though elsewhere it falls short of expectation, especially while catching the glimpses of the heroine.
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The movie has certain weak points, too. In spite of his best ever acting, Himesh fails to match Rishi Kapoor's character of Monty. Himesh admits it inasmuch as he says that had Ranbir Kapoor agreed to play the coveted role, he wouldn't have done it! Great. Two, director Indra Kumar's daughter Shweta Kumar, completely fails with her expressionless face; looks like she has been asked to act contrary to her choice? Also, we don't follow the logic behind re-titling it as 'Karzzzz' by adding extra alphabets at the end. Isn't Himesh a better composer than a singer, and a better singer than actor? If so, he should rather concentrate on singing.
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Among other lapses are Rohini Hattangadi's role with no good dialogues and Gulshan Grover completely wasted. Significantly, the music isn't as good as expected with Himesh in the movie as a central figure. As compared to Ghai's original movie's music, Himesh' s stands nowhere close to that, alas. Himesh' style is different; he is seen with a lot of jewelry, especially around his neck and the wrist. The viewers may judge it according to their taste. However, his mixing it with a religion like maulis (threads) around his wrist don't go well. Similarly, Urmila's ever-fantastic image, seen in red lipstick and tacky gowns, in this film fails to attract the viewers towards her. This is irrelevant with the present time.
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Incidentally, Himesh is the first music director turned actor to get his movie screened at the film festival of the Middle East. The movie's producer Bhushan Kumar along with all its top cast and its director Satish Kaushik witnessed its screening at Abu Dhabi. Another feather in Himesh' cap is that this movie was selected for the opening of the film festival, The festival organizer praised Bollywood industry's continuing progress in the field of content and technique.
Overall, 'Karzzzz' is likely to catch the younger viewers because of Himesh's rock singing and dancing.
