Anthony D’souza made an underwater thriller in ‘Blue’ a few years ago, and now the director is back with another run-of-the-mill looking movie in ‘Boss’.
The movie features Akshay Kumar is what looks like a reiteration of his ‘Rowdy Rathore’ avatar. Ronit Roy plays the villain in this ensemble piece – a corrupt policeman. Meanwhile Akshay Kumar plays Boss, a Robin-Hood type figure who helps the needy, in this case Mithun Chakraborty, Johny Lever and – in a major comeback – Danny Denzongpa.
Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar seems to have a brother in Shiv Pandit’s character who makes the mistake of falling in love with Aditi Rao Hydari’s character who is presumably Ronit Roy’s daughter. Big mistake. Obviously, Ronit Roy will now take revenge on Akshay Kumar and his entire family and friends.
Although Anthony D’souza knows how to keep it stylish and frame a shot well, the remainder of the film lets everyone down. ‘Blue’ may have flopped, but it was a film not seen before on Bollywood screens. With ‘Boss’, the director has chosen to play with elements that ensure a surefire hit. (Though, with such films, one can never say when it will flop.)
The gravity-defying stunts, larger-than-life action scenes, funny one-liners, colourful song sequences are all there (including a lackluster Hindi cover of the famous Tamil song from ‘Gilli’ – ‘Apdi Pode’). And Akshay Kumar doesn’t look out-of-sorts too. But it’s all been there-done that-seen ’em all before. Are we not bored yet?
‘Boss’ releases on 16 October.
