Ek Ajnabee Review

Alright just came back from the screening of the hindi movie "Ek Ajnabee" Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Perizaad Zoraiban.

It was a rather amusing viewing experience at this popular cineplex in Jersey city as the movie was interrupted several times much to the chagrin of the paying audience ; inversed screens, images without audio and vice versa and other technical difficulties. This may have in part effected the continuity of the movie thus lessening the overall impact.

But the movie is not without its flaws. This movie is an almost scene by scene remake of the Tony scott directed hollywood flick "Man on Fire" starring Denzel washington and Christopher walken. I could spend more time analyzing "Man on fire" but that I'll probably save for my next post. But what really annoys me, and this should be a cause for concern, is bollywood's disturbing trend of merrily "adapting" foreign movies. Are there no creative screenwriters in bollywood? Or they must have a real narrow view of indian movie watchers. But I digress. This shall also be the subject of a future post.

The reason I say "almost" scene by scene remake is cos a few extra scenes are added inorder to infuse some humor into this relentlessly bleak action drama. But the extra scenes, sadly, dont work and seem awkwardly out of place.

For those who've not watched "Man on fire" the story is as follows:

Amitabh Bachchan plays Retd. Colonel Suryaveer Singh, a closed-off loner with a troubled past. He is brought to bangkok by his close friend and former army pal Shekar (Arjun Rampal) who quickly hooks him up with a job as a bodyguard to Anamika (Rucha Vaidya) the young daughter of a wealthy indian businessman, (Vikram Chatwal) and his wife (Perizaad Zoraiban). Kidnappings are strife in the city of bangkok and kids like Anamika are ideal targets. Initially Surya resists Anamika's advances to become friends but as the movie progresses they become close and he takes on a father-figure role. However things go awfully wrong one day when Anamika is kidnapped and surya takes a few bullets in the process. While recovering in the hospital the ransom delivery attempt fails and Anamika is killed. An enraged Surya decides to eliminate anyone and everyone involved in the kidnapping. What follows is a trail of blood, torture, and retribution coupled with a few "desi" twists.

Amitabh Bachchan plays his role to perfection although it would be interesting yet unfair to compare his performance to that of Denzel washington. Amitabh potrays all facets of his character arc, troubled loner, father figure, vengeful killer, he does with charismatic ease. The pivotal aspect to the whole story is the relationship between Surya and Anamika and the director Apoorva Lakhia does well to meaningfully craft their encounters.
Rucha vaidya who plays Anamika does an effective job of creating a heart-warming character. She is sweet, likeable, and shows maturity beyond her years and when she is kidnapped the audience gets pulled into the story and they too seek violent retribution.
Arjun Rampal doesn't have much to do and does whatever little he has to do well. Perizad Zoraiban impresses as the grief-stricken mother. Kelly Dorjee and others are provided very little screen time.


The music intrudes the flow of the movie causing it to lose momentum at critical junctures. Especially the one song right after intermission where Amitabh goes after some low-level operators at a nightclub. The song and the choreography accompanying it is totally inappropriate. The music can at best be described as amatuerish with some outrageously funny (not intentional) lyrics. The intent was obviously to push for tough, in-yer-face lyrics but it falls flat. The background music is also inspired from the hollywood version and at one point an instrumental version of Marc Anthony's song is used.

Director Apoorva lakhia does a good job of mimicking Tony scott's patented, MTV-ish visual style. While this style seemed more suited to the hollywood version with the quick camera cuts, editing and stylized color formats accurately capturing the furious energy of Mexico city and the simmering rage prevelant throughout, it seems rather forced here.

But then how difficult can it really be to copy someone else's work?

-Nav