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'Indian'

By N K Deoshi
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

“Indian” suffers from a strong dose of jingoistic patriotism. In a way, the director (N Maharajan) justifies the terror-driven acts of a hysterical police officer who goes about blowing heads of deshdrohis without so much as a blink of an eye.

And then he boasts with anger that he is an Indian as if being one gives him the license to kill anyone who is “Un-Indian”!

For

instance, Raj’s (Sunny Deol) encounter with Wasim (Mukesh Rishi) brings to light the conspiracy involving the leading politicians, industrialists and senior police officers of the country including his own father-in-law DGP Surya Pratap Singh (Raj Babbar). Righteous Raj feels no need to have a dialogue and guns down the otherwise-revered DGP (the father of his beloved Anajali) without a second thought.

Even Raj’s idea of fighting the corrupt system seems to have sprung from a feeble mind. To take on the venal politicians and officers Raj gathers a bunch of disillusioned youths who form a small army of self-appointed social crusaders.

And, in spite of the tremendous pressure from a bereaving wife Anjali (who also threatens to divorce him), cowardly colleagues and venal politicians the iron-willed Raj, the invincible Indian, stays the course and surmounts all the odds to emerge victorious in the end.

Could there have been any other conclusion to this oft-repeated story?

After a somewhat polished performance in “Gadar” Sunny lets the movie buffs down with a rather sloppy performance in Indian.

Sunny’s patriotism brinks on hysteria the way it has always been. He does his stereotypical hollering act to the hilt, screams his lungs out and spews out vitriol. Other than anger and vengeance there is hardly any other expression that he can bring about in his limited histrionic range.

But the real catch is that the whole thing gets ridiculously comical when (at regular intervals) this serious cop throws all the inhibitions and dons a star spangled bandana, a Harley Davidson T-Shirt and goes about gamboling with the lanky siren Shilpa.

As for Shilpa she is wasted in just another just-for-the-heck-of-it role. She appears and disappears throughout the film thereby lending an extra edge to the confusion of a shoddy story.

The film also has a sizzling dance number by the willowy VJs Malaika Arora and Sophiya.

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