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'Run'

By ApunKaChoice Bureau
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

It appears that Abhishek Bachchan's run of flop movies is not going to end soon. His 'Run', co-starring Bhumika Chawla and Mahesh Manjrekar, is a film based on the oft-repeated theme of a guy falling in love with a girl whose over possessive brother can't tolerate someone going out with his sister.

In the times when filmmakers are eagerly experimenting with new themes in Bollywood, producer Boney Kapoor resorts to an age-old formula in this Hindi remake of a south Indian hit movie of the same title. But the audience today will not take anything that is served to them. The stereotypical kitsch that fills 'Run' makes its story completely predictable and takes out any entertainment value from the movie.

The

film tells the story of Siddharth aka Siddhu (Abhishek Bachchan) a happy-go-lucky fellow who comes from Agra to Delhi for further studies. Soon he comes across a beautiful girl named Jhanavi [Bhoomika Chawla] and falls for her. Besotted by Jhanavi's charm and grace, Siddharth makes his amorous moves, not knowing the trouble he was getting into.

Comes into picture Jhanavi's over-possessive brother Ganpat [Mahesh Manjrekar], who takes special delight in thrashing guys who lay their eye on his gorgeous sister. Knowing Siddharth's feelings for his sister, Ganpat does everything to make life a living hell for him. Ganpat sends his henchman to bump off Siddharth, but the young man confronts him with all his might.

The reason for Siddharth's fight to win Jhanavi is that she too reciprocates his feelings but is afraid of taking any step against her belligerent brother's wishes.

Meanwhile, the lovers continue to meet, away from the prying eyes of the overtly possessive brother. And even the brother doesn't confront the guy head-on. And the story thus drags on for good number of reels until the latter half when Siddharth is rusticated from his college, his sister (Ayesha Julka) is knocked down by a speeding truck and her husband is falsely implicated in a case of corruption.

With the water getting above his neck, Siddharth decides it was time to confront Ganpat and end this issue once and for all. But it is going to be a battle of life and death for him.

Cinematographer-turned-director Jeeva has the technical expertise to tell a story. But if the story happens to be as stale as it is in 'Run' then no amount of skills can help. Everything in the movie is predictable right from the start.

The story begins to drag in the first half only and by the time the second half starts many would have savored a sound sleep. The progression of the story is also stalled by incongruous placement of songs after every 20 minutes. And most of these songs are merely dream sequences added in the story to provide some zing.

Acting by Abhishek is just passable. His body language in the film continues to be stiff and restricted, just like it has been in his other movies. Bhumika Chawla is more concentrated on looking good rather than performing well. Mahesh Manjrekar does add considerable punch in the otherwise drab story with his intense portrayal of a gunda.

In a sentence, 'Run' is a film with nothing novel. It's story is clichéd, the style of presentation is stale and the performances just about average.

Another run-of-the-mill film

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