Rocky Handsome, Review: Rocky terrain, bumpy ride

Okay, so John Abraham is a handsome hunk with codename. Rocky...Handsome...does that justify the title? Read on. John is great at action and decides to cash in on his forté yet again in another remake, with remake veteran director Nishikant Kamat. Remember John’s earlier home production called Force, remake of a Tamil film? This time, the team looks to the Far East, and settles for the gut-wrenching, bullet spraying, bone-crushing local hit, The Man from Nowhere (South Korea, 2010). A title like Rocky Handsome reminds you of Vicky Donor, Miss Lovely and/or Bobby Jasoos, and is a complete mismatch, likely to attract the wrong audiences and keep John’s real fans away.

A covert military operations man, Kabir Ahlawat is grievously wounded, and his pregnant wife killed, by enemy elements. He recovers, but gives up his profession, becoming an introverted pawn-broker instead. Kabir’s neighbours include a drug-addict, jobless, single woman, called Anna, and her eight year-old illegitimate daughter, Naomi. Naomi is very fond of Kabir and vice versa. She steals and sells off the goods to Kabir, to help support herself and her mother. Naomi calls Kabir “Handsome” and unhesitatingly reveals to him that her own nick-name is Dustbin, because “they say that my mother kicked a dustbin and I was born as a result.” Anna and her boy-friend stumble upon a caché of drugs and tainted money, and decide to decamp, but are found out. Anna is killed and Naomi taken captive. Kabir tries to negotiate a deal with the gangsters, who turn out to be far more dangerous and ruthless than he could have imagined.

It is ‘a loose adaptation’ of the Korean film, insisted the film’s publicity all along. They did not say it was a bad adaptation. Neither does the locale (South Korea) replicate well as Goa, nor do many of the characters metamorphose into the Indian milieu. ‘Adapted screenplay’ writer Ritesh Shah (Force, B.A. Pass, Airlift) is not in his element here. Overdrive is the order of the day. Too many gangsters, too many flash-backs, too many policemen, too may clubbers, too many item girl dancers, too many scantily clad women, too many cars, too many child actors, too many fights, too many precocious dialogue bits, too many unintentionally funny situations...Too many.

With at least four accepted remakes (Dombivali Fast in Marathi, Force and Drishyam before this), Nishikant Kamat has earned the moniker of remake specialist. Dombivali was a delight while Drishyam, also set in Goa, was a disappointment. No comment on Force, which I have missed. Kamat does good service to self-confessed underdog John’s cause and he responds with an acceptable blend of action and understated emotion (as favourably compared with the blank, wooden visage he is usually identified with). His role is well juxtaposed with a chirpy, eloquent girl.

Action is mind-boggling, though often prolonged just to showcase John’s fighting skills. Humour is hard to come by, and when it does, it is of the flat, uni-dimensional variety. Accents bear no similarity to the ethnicity of the characters, the sprinkling of Goan Konkani dialect notwithstanding. Taking the audience for granted, Kamat offers no details of the attack on the lead couple, nor does he explain how did the variegated crime mafia, comprising drugs, prostitution, child trafficking, organ trade and you name it, was able to spread its tentacles so far and wide, without conniving policemen and how was it suddenly discovered. Kamat also brings in local Goan allusions and realities, like the tourist trade, a politically connected criminal brother duo and the canteen that offers only vegetarian food to grumbling police officers pining for meat, which really add nothing to the narrative.

John Abraham (Dhoom, Force, Housefull 2, Madras Café) uses the same ‘lucky’ name he had in Jism and Dhoom. Kabir means big/great, and was the name of the famed Indian spiritual poet who preached universal brotherhood. His code-name is obviously a tribute to his idol, Sylvester Stallone, known for the iconic Rocky series of films about a legendary boxer.His looks are modelled after Won Bin, the actor who starred in The Man from Nowhere. He told the press much before the release of this film, “My body turned black and blue during training, but it paid off.” John added that the action scenes were real, without usage of any VFX. To make them look totally convincing, he learnt Aikido, Hapkido and Krav Maga. If anything, John is sincere and gives the role 100%. Even his romantic scenes with Shruti Haasan are not awkward. Sadly for John, even as the actor in him has matured noticeably, producer Abraham might not reap the rewards.

Shruti Haasan (Luck, Gabbar is back, Welcome Back) as Rukshida (exotic name), Kabir’s lady love, has a sexy, husky-voiced romp in Seychelles with her beau, replete with a passionate song, until death does them apart. Nishikant Kamat himself essays Kevin Fereira, one of the two Mafioso brothers, in an unusual piece of casting. "I have this habit of tonsuring my head after every film of mine. And when Rocky Handsome was being made, Lai Bhaari (his Marathi hit) had just released. It so happened that the person who was supposed to play the villain in Rocky Handsome developed cold feet at the eleventh hour and backed out. One of my assistants saw me and remarked ‘Sir, aapka look perfect hai’ (Sir, your look is perfect for this role), and given the fact that I look like a Goan in real life, I got away with the role." Well, he does exude confidence, but all the bad guys in the film, including Kamat excel at hamming, and none get away, literally or figuratively. They include Teddy Maurya as Luke Ferreira, Gwalior-born Sharad Kelkar (Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, Lai Bhaari, Hero) and the actor who plays Maanto.

Nathalia Kaur as Anna has a small role that has come under the censors’ scissors, as must have the special ‘appearance’ of danseuse Nora Fatehi. Kazu Patrick Tang (nationality unspecified but decidedly oriental) as Atilla (Hun/Pun?) has an intense persona and puts up a compelling fight. Suhasini Mulay gets a brief part as the Madam of the child den. I cannot remember Uday Chandra’s unconventional looks being used in the manner they have been exploited here, albeit fleetingly, as the doctor who gouges eyes for the gang to sell. As a senior cop, ShivKumar Subramaniam comes across as a caricature.

With the face of a five year-old and the dialogue delivery of a nine year-old, seven year-old Baby Diya Chalwad as Naomi is pleasing, with near fluency in Hindi. That her part fails to fully convince is among the failures of the film. It is rocky terrain and a bumpy ride that awaits you, yet one that John Abraham fans may take in their stride, and even buy the hard to imagine concept of him playing a reclusive pawn-broker.

On last count, Rocky Handsome has three other films included in the ticket price of one: The Man from Nowhere, Léon the Professional and With You, Without You. See below to find common elements.

Rating: **

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFKluii3rmI

The Man from Nowhere, South Korea, 2010

Tae-shik (Woh Bin) is an ex-special agent whose tragic past has made him distance himself from the world. He now lives in solitude and runs a small pawnshop. The only people he now sees are the few pawnshop customers and So-mi (Kim Sae-Ron), the young girl who lives next door. So-mi has also been neglected by the world and as she and Tae-shik begin to spend more time together, the two gradually open themselves to one another and become friends. Then one day, So-mi suddenly disappears. So-mi s mother becomes involved in a major crime causing both her and So-mi to get kidnapped. Tae-shik is drawn back out into the world in a frantic search for So-mi’s whereabouts. In order to save So-mi, his one and only friend in this world, Tae-shik makes a certain arrangement with the crime mob. While So-mi is still nowhere to be found, the police begin to chase Tae-shik. With the police and the underground mob close on his tail, Tae-shik continues his frantic search for So-mi, and his hidden past slowly becomes revealed...

With You, Without You, SriLanka, 2012

Sarathsiri, a forty-five year old man, lives in a two storied building in a remote town surrounded by tea plantations. The ground floor is converted into a pawn shop and he lives on the upper floor. He is an ex Sri Lankan Army soldier. A loner, he lives alone, while frequently watching Western wrestling matches on television as his only pastime. Selvi, a young girl aged twenty-four, visits Sarathsiri's pawn shop to pawn items, some which are not worth anything, in the hope of getting some much-needed money for survival.

Léon the Professional, France, 1994

Léon (Jean Reno) is a professional hit-man, with ninja-like skills, who eliminates rivals for a mob boss (Danny Aiello). After a corrupt cop (Gary Oldman) eliminates the family residing next door, due to a drug transaction gone wrong, Léon finds himself the guardian of young Mathilda (Natalie Portman in her screen debut). Taking Mathilda under his helm, Léon teaches her the art of the "cleaner" (killer), and she becomes his apprentice. However, danger lurks around every corner, and Léon must protect Mathilda from the same cops who killed her family.