Family: Ties of Blood

It feels really sad when we see a director like Mr. Rajkumar Santoshi who has given us brilliant films like DAMINI, ANDAZ APNA APNA, GHAYAL and THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH to the very recent KHAKEE comes up with a genuinely bad film. What were you thinking Mr. Santoshi?

This is nothing but a launch board for producer Keshu’s son, Aryeman. Halfway through the film the makers must have realized that no one in this country even on their wildest of whims would pay for a ticket to watch this frog-faced and unabashedly dumb version of Sunny Deol. So they decided to cast in Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar in silly, insipid and inconsequential roles.

FAMILY is primarily about two families. One is of Akshay Kumar who is a cook and canteen owner. The other is that of Amitabh Bachchan who plays a ‘Godfatheresque’ don. The new wannabe angry young man Aryeman plays (rather, tries very hard to play) Akshay’s younger brother. Sushant Singh plays Big B’s son. The other members of the families are umpteen times repeated caricatures of the timeless bollywood mothers, sisters, wives, fathers etc.

Right on the onset of the film we see Sushant Singh ruthlessly committing a murder. The next frame shows us a totally hamming Akshay Kumar crooning one of the worst songs of all times for the titles. A totally senseless romance track (Akshay, Bhumika) and a couple of scenes and a pathetic item number featuring Aryeman himself (!) to showcase the producer’s son follow. After which we see the Big B on the frame and we pray that things would become better… ALAS!!! Big B overacts his part to such an extent that we can actually feel a really, painful headache. Then again Aryeman dances. The headache increases. Akshay Kumar gets killed by Big B. Aryeman now wants revenge. He kidnaps Big B’s family… and the torture continues.

FAMILY is a seriously hopeless film. It has an outright outrageous screenplay, shoddy editing, strictly average cinematography and a bit above average background score. The only two points in the film that really make you feel better are…
1>The Interval
2>The End.

Performances are bad. Seasoned performers like the Big B, Akshay Kumar and Sushant Singh ham their life out. Shernaz Patel who was one of the best things in BLACK is possibly the second worst thing in FAMILY. The worst is Aryeman. He should take over production soon. He actually makes you feel bad for the thousands of struggling actors in Bollywood whose dads are not Mr. Moneybags. Aryeman’s is the worst movie debut in years. Bhumika is the best amongst the actors. (Sigh)

Don’t visit this Family. If this is family, I would rather stay alone.

My Rating: NOT APPLICABLE.