Director Karan Malhotra’s remake of the Hollywood sports drama Warrior (2011) stays quite true to the original but derails it with typical Hindi movie devices.

Akshay Kumar is cast in a role that is tailor-made for him. He is David, a graying father desperate for money, who resorts to street fighting to make a quick buck. For long years he has held his father Gary and brother Monty responsible for a childhood tragedy. Estranged from them, David is a teacher who needs big money to pay off a bank loan and pay for his daughter’s incurable illness.

Sidharth Malhotra plays Monty, a brooding loner who is emulating his alcoholic father. Like Gary, Monty too fights for living but does much else. The family drama hits a dramatic highpoint when Monty and David enter the same international mixed martial arts tournament. Karan Malhotra comes into his own here, taking on the action scenes and stylizing the proceedings. Unfortunately he forsakes the substance a film like this needed because the action and style far outweighs the emotional quotient of Brothers. Just seeing David’s wife Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandez) crying or Gary’s wife Maria (Shefali Shah) as the sacrificing mother to her husband’s illegitimate son are not enough.

Kumar is apportioned enough moments to give David depth, so is Jackie Shroff as the guilt-ridden father, but Sidharth Malhotra’s Monty is short-changed of a scene in which he can do more than flex his muscles. Jacqueline Fernandez makes a mark too as the compassionate wife.

Bones break, skulls are cracked, bloody cuts and choke holds abound. This is a testosterone filled experience with soppy bits that are hard to swallow. Watch ‘Warrior’ to see what ‘Brothers’ could have been.

Rating: **

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