The movie revolves around Baldev Singh Chaudhury (Dharmendra) who won a Silver Medal in the Olympics and his only dream was to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship and make his country proud. However he is falsely implicated by the “bookies” on drug charges and disqualified. Baldev’s only dream in life is to regain his lost pride and clear his tarnished reputation. Baldev started training his eldest son Angad(Sunny Deol) to make him the World Heavyweight Champion, however Angad feels other responsibilities and commitments are more important and abandons his father’s dream which in turn causes a rift between father and son. Baldev’s youngest son Karan (Bobby Deol) is an aspiring musician, and in spite of wanting to fulfil his fathers dream a physical disability stops him from doing so. However due to a twist of fate Karan is able to fight and decides to train for the World Heavyweight Championship. Karan reaches the finals only to lose horrible against the reigning champion Luca Garcia –the killing machine(Jonnie Brown) who defeats Karan by cheating sending him to hospital with a punctured liver. Angad now decides to step in to the ring to avenge his brother and regain his father’s lost pride.
Neeraj Patthak’s story is pretty well done though extremely predictable. The first half of the movie is an amalgamation of a number of “family dramas” witnessed in the past, while in the second half boxing takes centre stage. The story here isn’t really an under-dog tale at all, it’s about family, honour, pride and revenge. The screenplay by Patthak is knitted well together. The father-son rift has been extremely well portrayed and hits all the right notes. The build-up to Bobby Deol entering the ring is well done and the pace picks up considerably, the pace slackens a bit in the second half only to pick up again once Angad steps in to the ring. The climax could’ve been trimmed as it seemed to drag on and had a hangover of DILLAGI to it. Had it not been for the fact the movie starred Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby in one film which revolved around a family of boxers I would’ve put the movie in to the same category of regressively annoying family drama e.g. KABHIE KHUSHU KABHIE GHAM. I must say, Neeraj Patthak must’ve been a fan of the entire ROCKY series as there are quiet a few parts scattered throughout the movie which draw an instant reminder to Stallone’s infamous series right from the track with Dharmendra and his back-stabbing protégé played by Aryan Vaid (taken from ROCKY 5) to the final fight sequence, though Patthak is clever enough to cleverly disguised this in a Indian make-over.
As a director Anil Sharma has always been a “hit and miss” director. His style of film-making has always been big budget, highly lavish, masala-packed, “blockbuster” entertainers with generous doses of action and emotion. While his hits include TAHALKA (1992), HUKUMAT (1987), ELAAN-E-JUNG (1989), and the history-making GADAR-EK PREM KATHA (2001) he’s had his fair share of flops with FARISHTAY (1991), MAHARAJA (1998), AB TUMHARE HAWALE WATAN SAATHIYON (2004). With APNE he gets his formula just right and the outcome is a predictable yet ultimately entertaining fare which has more “hits” than “misses’. His biggest USP right from the start is the casting of the 3 Deols, and having worked with all of them before he clearly knows their strengths and weaknesses hence playing to their strong-point. The story is just perfect for bringing the Deol’s together and he capitalizes on the moment with élan. The lighter moments in the first half are fun to watch and despite being predictable have a certain aura of freshness to them, however it’s the emotional, dramatic and more-so “action” moments which are the highlights. From the moment Bobby Deol steps in to the ring to the final fight with Sunny Deol it’s a gripping watch. Yes the movie is completely predictable, yes there are countless flaws and one has to suspend disbelief when Sunny Deol with 1 month’s training decides to fight the World Heavyweight Champion and offcourse comes out flying colours, though ultimately this is a Deol-fest and Sharma plays to their strengths which is what makes the movie work. The director is all too familiar with exactly what is expected from a film where the 3 Deol’s come together, and he doesn’t disappoint. For a sports movie to really work one has to really vouch for the protagonist to win in the end, and Sharma manages to achieve that hence evoking a “feel-good” aura. In recent times ARYAN too bought boxing to the fore, though sadly despite being a reasonably well-made movie it went largely unnoticed, though with APNE Anil Sharma does a great job striking the perfect balance between a family drama and a boxing blood-fest.
Performances in the movie range are very good overall, though the movie ultimately belongs to one man; Dharmendra.
I can’t help but get emotional when watching Dharampaaji on-screen in APNE, and even writing about him now. Without a doubt one of the most charming and talented actors/stars that have ever graced the silver-screen I was devastated in the mid-late 90’s when Dharmendra did a whole barrage of Z-grade films which made Mithun and his T.L.V Prasad films look like avant-garde cinema. I know he had debts to pay and it’s a phase that he himself would like to put behind him, however as a fan I couldn’t help but be extremely sad. However 2007 has witnessed the come-back of Dharmendra, first his superbly enacted part in Anurag Basu’s LIFE IN A…METRO where Dharmendra proved in a very small role that there was a lot left in him as an actor still, and now APNE where he takes to the screen with full-fledged, high-speed gusto and doesn’t disappoint. He goes through a gamut of emotions from anguish, anger, frustration, helplessness to gritted determination with absolute precision and delivers a performance that is truly worth applauding. Hid delivery is splendid here, and his facial expressions hit all the right notes. He seems equally at ease in comic and romantic scenes as he does in the emotional ones. He hits all the right notes every time he is on screen and Anil Sharma has made the smartest move by giving centre-stage to the most talented member of the Deol family, the original De(o)al and the performance infact turns in to a tribute & ode to Dharmendra as while watching the actor in almost every frame of the film you cannot help but take a trip down memory lane. Just witness his drunken outburst, the numerous conflicts with Sunny or the scenes where he confronts Luca. Surreal, stirring and simply excellent. With JOHNNY GADDARR around the corner which again features Paaji in a pivotal role it seems like the second innings of Dharmendra have begun. Welcome back Paaji, we missed you!
The last time Sunny Deol impressed me with in JO BOLE SO NI HAAL. Since then most of his films have pretty much been a re-run of the same old stuff he’s done in the past over and over again and with films like TEESRI AANKH-THE HIDDEN CAMERA, NAKSHA, BIG BROTHER and FOOL N FINAL I thought it’d be the end of the road…not quiet! This is a very emotional role for Sunny and he plays it to perfection. It’s no secret that most of what Sunny Deol is playing here is actually “real-life” imitating “reel-life” and he plays the soft-spoken, responsible elder son with relish. In the first half he leaves a mark with his quiet poignancy, however once again Anil Sharma knows too well how to use Sunny to the right affect, and I must admit I was simply waiting for Sunny Deol to step in to the ring for the final fight and in the second half too he hits all the right notes. The sequence where he challenges Luca publicly draws an instant reminder to the countless scenes Sunny has done in films like GHAYAL, LOOTERE, GHATAK etc and it’s been a long time since Sunny’s screaming actually left any kind of impact on me hence I was surprised that even here he came across as effective. The climax is completely over-the-top which was expected, though one wonders what was the need for Sunny Deol to engage in unwanted bouts of excessive swearing with cusses like “Fuck you, come-on you motherfucker” etc being exchanged a number of times. Sadly, age has taken a toll for the worse on Sunny, his wig looks really fake, and Dharmendra looks better than him here.
Bobby Deol is plain average here. He seems to be going through the motions in the first half, and his emotional scenes seem contrived and delivery wooden. One also wishes that had worked on his physique for the part, with Sunny it was OK given he had a short time to prepare for the fight. It doesn’t help he’s regulated to the backseat in the second half.
And I will add here that the chemistry between Dharmendra and his two sons is simply fantastic and makes up for quiet a bit in the movie. Had there been anyone else in this movie it would’ve fallen flat.
Shilpa Shetty is extremely efficient. Admittedly this isn’t a great role by any means and she isn’t given much scope, but she lends a lot of credibility to her part and looks absolutely stunning as always.
Katrina Kaif was plain annoying here. She barely has a few scenes, and doesn’t look nor act the part of a doctor at all. Her delivery too seemed poor here, though she looks a million bucks as always.
Kirron Kher is superlative yet again and no doubt she’s the “real” leading lady of the movie just like Dharmendra is the “real” leading man. Victor Bannerjee is fabulous too and shares great chemistry with Dharmendra. Divya Dutta is wasted in an inconsequential role. Aryan Vaid is apt in his role. Javed Shehikh isn’t given much of a part. Kurush Deboo and Parvin Dabbas are royally wasted. Jonnie Brown is absolutely splendid as Luca and is very effective in his part.
Himmesh Reshammiya’s music is pretty good here too, and the songs have not only been well picturized but placed at the right moments in the movie. MEHFUZ and DEKHU TUJHE TO PYAAR are melodious while they play though forgettable once the show is over. Anil Sharma has an old trick, he gets one hit track and then plays it over and over again at various intervals throughout the movie which in many ways acts like the anthem of the movie, be it UDJA KAALE in GADAR, DIL MAIN HAI PYAAR TERA in THE HERO, and in APNE its APNE TOH APNE HOTE HAI. Monty’s background score is good.
Technically this is a slick movie. Kabir Lal’s camera-work is stunning and extremely eye-catching. He captures the lush green locales of North India with aplomb and they look simply dazzling. Even in the second half he’s canned the fight sequences extremely realistically giving it the look and feel of a Hollywood boxing film.
Chris Anderson and Tinnu Verma have done a magnificent job at canning the fight sequences. The sequences perfectly blend real boxing with filmi masala hitting all the right notes. Yes the scenes are extremely violent, be it the scene where Bobby repeatedly gets his broken arm his repeatedly or Sunny Deol in the climax with his eyes covered in blood going for the final round.
All up APNE is a good old-fashioned feel good entertainer, and the pro’s here clearly outdo the cons. The movie is warrants a dekkho once simply to see Dharmendra’s winning performance.
Final Rating: * * * ¼
