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'Family - Ties Of Blood' Awfully Mediocre

By Aparajita Ghosh
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Even if we discount the awfully predictable story of this poorly knit Family, it’s hard to comprehend how a movie with notable names like Amitabh Bachchan and Rajkumar Santoshi, could fall flat.

Produced partly by Keshu Ramsay, Family – Ties of Blood is a plain mediocre movie with below par performances and an unexpectedly shoddy direction by Rajkumar Santoshi. Add to this a barrage of songs at the very beginning and a forever-dragging second half.

It

is quite evident that the movie is the launchpad of the producer’s son Aryeman. He is given a tailor-made, supposedly ‘intense’ role with a few action sequences to establish the young man’s credibility in the movies of such genre. But let it be said, although Aryeman has an uncanny facial resemblance to Ajay Devgan, the newcomer lacks the seething intensity that was required to pull off his role in the film.

‘Family’ tells the story of a young man taking revenge for his brother’s murder from a don.

Amitabh Bachchan plays Viren Sahai, a dapperly don dressed in black or white suits, with a signature cigar in mouth and dark shades on eyes, very much in conformation to his character. Viren Sahai’s family – his wife (Shernaz Patel), notorious son (Sushant Singh), daughter-in-law and daughter – live in India, while he does all his dirty work abroad.

On the other hand is the picture-perfect Bhatia family. Shekhar (Akshay Kumar) is the elder son who works as a chef. His wife Bhumika (Bhumika Chawla) is a doctor. Aryan (Aryeman) is Shekhar’s younger brother, someone he dotes on.

In this hunky-dory setting, a twist comes when, in one incident, trigger-happy Viren Sahai accidentally ends up killing Shekhar. Younger brother Aryeman vows revenge and, along with his friends, abducts the family of Viren Sahai.

The clash between the two men, filled with deliberately placed action scenes and chases, is an absolute drudge to watch. The movie drags and trundles to its obvious conclusion, but not before testing a viewer’s patience to the point of torture.

Considering the expectations that were had from this movie, ‘Family’ is an utter letdown. The film is like an uninspiring collage of randomly placed sequences. It appears that the producer tried to chip in a little bit of many things in the story to make it interesting. After all, he had to play safe because the movie is his son’s launchpad.

But the end product is a non-linear, assorted, shoddily put up, wishy-washy hogwash, with acting performances that leave too much to be desired.

Amitabh Bachchan, the towering superstar of Bollywood, is just about OK in this movie. His facial reactions, close to contortions, while smoking his cigars or pulling a trigger, seem superfluous at times. His dialogue delivery is as usual good, but not good enough to pull ‘Family’ out of the mire of mediocrity.

Akshay Kumar has a marginal role and his acting limitations are exposed even in that bit. Akki’s performances in such roles are becoming too predictable now. Aryeman tries to exude intensity but his performance lacks the grit that was needed.

Surprisingly, Bhumika Chawla emerges as the best performer of the lot. Her sequence with Amitabh in the hospital shows her potential. Sushant Singh is a pain to watch.

‘Family – Ties of Blood’ lacks a gripping story. On top of it, the cinematic execution by Santoshi is plain mediocre. It is as if a filmmaker is paid to direct a story he doesn’t believe in. It looks like a half-hearted attempt from Santoshi.

A POORLY KNIT FAMILY

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