What will happen , if a dangerous sport like Mixed Martial Art; which is popular in some western countries, comes to India? To find the answer, one should watch the latest Hindi film ‘Brothers’ directed by Karan Malhotra. But, those who don’t like this rowdy sport, may stay away from it. This film is a remake of Hollywood’s 2011 film ‘Warrior’; but has been conveniently presented to capture the WWF lovers in India, through a typical emotional drama of estranged brothers who turn rivals, an alcoholic father and a suffering mother.
The first part of ‘Brothers’ is devoted to tell the story of Fernandes family, showing how the head of the family Gary ( Jackie Shroff) accidentally kills his wife ( Shefali Shah) and is sentenced to jail. On his return, he learns that his son David( Akshay Kumar) , who is now a teacher in a school, doesn’t want to see his face. But, his adopted son Rony( Siddharth Malhotra) follows his footsteps, taking up Mixed Martial Art seriously.
The entire second part of the film is all about the World Level invitation tourney of the game called R2F, which is nothing but ruthless, so called rowdy martial art, on the lines of WWF we watched on sports TV channels. The film ends with predictable end, where we notice both the brothers entering finals of the competition and elder bro winning the same, as he deserves the big money to save the life of his ailing little daughter, who is suffering from Kidney ailment.
In the film Jacqueline Fernandez, who plays the wife of David, has limited role in this film; but, Kareena Kapoor finds an item number to show her glamour on the music of Ajay Atul. Perhaps, she wanted to prove that she can did much better than Katarina Kaif , who performed on the song of ‘Chikni Chameli…, on the same music director’s tunes.
Akshay Kumar finds a tailor made role, to suit his personality and he has proved that his body is still flexible to perform martial art, despite his advancing age. Siddhartyh Malhotra plays angry young man convincingly through his body language; as he doesn’t have much to speak, through dialogues. But, Jackie Shroff finds a perfect role. Shefali Shah through her small role of a woman in distress, impresses with her performance . It was nice to see artistes like Kiran Kumar as the organizer of the big event, Kulbhushan Kharbanda as school principal, Raj Zutshi as Sports commentator and Ashutosh Rana, as supporter of Akshay Kumar, in this film.
All in all, this Indian version of ‘Warrior’ will only entertain the lovers of this dangerous sport and not the real film lovers. This film is an attempt to popularize this sport in India. But, technically, it is a well presented film, with excellent photography and perfect background music.
( **1/2)
By: Ulhas Shirke