Karz

This remake of Subhash Ghai’s 1980s super hit Karz has basically the same storyline as the original with a little twist added to it. So for all those who haven’t seen the original, the plot goes like this – Kamini (Urmila) marries Ravi Verma (Dino Morea) for his riches and bumps him off immediately after their marriage. Two decades later, the biggest music sensation in South Africa, Monty (Himesh) one day suddenly during a rehearsal starts playing a tune and goes into a trance, with intense visual flashes of a mansion, a temple, a beautiful girl and ends up collapsing unconscious. Further a flash back reveals that Monty was actually Ravi Verma in his previous life, married to a beautiful girl called Kamini. Monty now has the grave realization of having been reborn in his current persona. His beautiful love interest (Tina) is none other than Kamini’s foster daughter. From here starts Monty’s new journey. A journey of revenge! How he accomplishes it and gives justice to Ravi Verma’s hapless old mother and sister forms the rest of the film. The basic premise of this film is even exciting for anyone of today’s generation. But one thing that one needs to keep in mind while watching this film is that it is not completely aimed at the multiplex going audience. It has been treated like a typical masala film aimed at the masses and to enjoy one needs to keep his brains back at home. The things that work are - The enthusiasm of Himesh in reprising Rishi Kapoor’s Monty. Himesh has given it his all and his efforts show. You root for him in the second half when he starts playing games with Urmila. The action sequences, especially the climax ones are mind blowing. Another good plus is the performance by Urmila in her first ever full blown villainous role. Her venomous act is bound to get her few awards this year for sure. She has even exposed her body a lot in those glamorous dresses. Gulshan Grover (as Sir Judah) in his unusual get up leaves a mark. Danny as the every helpful Kabir chacha (played by Pran in the original) and Asrani lend able support. But the things that don’t really work are – The pairing of Himesh and debutante Shweta Kumar. They share an extremely thanda chemistry. Considering it is her debut film, the poor gal hasn’t been properly presented as well. In the acting department she still has a long way to go. The styling of the film is extremely poor excluding that of Himesh’s. The set design is straight out of the 80s films. Also, despite having so many dance numbers, there is not a single song that stays in your mind thanks to some really pathetic choreography with those now mandatory firang dancers around. The high point of the original Karz, the Ek Hasina Thi number falls flat in here in its new version. As a director, Satish Kaushik fails to add any independent distinct style. I suggest dont listen to songs its a waste.