For anyone who ever watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and was disappointed that, for all its over-the-top absurdities, it didn’t feature a scene where Harrison Ford punches a midget and makes him fly across a field, then Naksha is the movie for you.
I went in to this movie predisposed to liking it. It was an espionage/fumetti flavored Bollywood film. It starred Dharmendra. It featured Fantomas, calling himself Mr. Han. And I spent years trying to track it down. Plus, I watch films with the intent of enjoying them.
As much as I love the outlandish bits, Katilon Ke Kaatil is ultimately kind of a let-down. There is too much uninteresting filler, and Zeenat is completely wasted in a do-nothing role that is beneath her talents. I have plenty of tolerance for slapdash Bollywood action films, but even I was toying with the fast forward button for part of this.
At 177 minutes (nothing out of the ordinary for a Bollywood film), the film may meander a bit too much for some viewers. I thought it was great, and entertaining throughout. Even with the breaks for filler and a woman on her knees singing to Krishna, we still get a film that fills most of its running time with sneaking about, secret chambers, spying, and gun fights.
If you are unfamiliar with the peculiarities of Indian cinema, a film like Farz might take some getting used to, but once that happens, it’s at least as enjoyable as many of its European spy film brethren.
The drama never gets too intense, the overall look is bathed in that inimitable bright 1980s glow, and the score happily percolates with songs by R.D. Burman at his most lightweight and catchy.
So next time you’re watching some current Bollywood hit and you see Amitabh Bachchan making a cameo as an aging kingpin or a lovable uncle with an annoying catchphrase, keep in mind that this is a man for whom the privilege of phoning in performances in fluff roles that are largely the result of stunt casting has been especially hard won.
Khopdi is like a ratty old blanket that smells of mildew but is never the less still festering in the attic when it should have been thrown out years ago. But you just can’t do it, can you?
This is a film for people already initiated into the ways of Harinam Singh, rather than a film that is going to convince you to donate your worldly possessions to the man and join his cult (in the cult’s defense, he will use your worldly possessions to finance another rubber mask monster movie).
I had pretty high expectations going into this film — not that it would be good, but that it would hilariously, confoundingly weird. And I was not disappointed. But I discovered that it was also actually pretty good.
