Hello Movie Maniacs
Experimentation is always fraught with risks especially when you lack the vision. The only reason you are experimenting with a new genre is for the sake of creating a buzz. Such experiments are doomed to fail. No wonder Dhaakad ended up being a massive dud at the box office.
Synopsis
Directed by Razneesh Ghai, Dhaakad is the story of Agni (Played by Kangana Ranaut). She is an International Task Force officer with a ruthless approach to dealing with enemies. The opening sequence sets up the movie as a dark and gritty spy action film with lot’s of bloodhsed.
Kangana’s character is presented as a bloodthirsty, courageous spy. She slaughters enemies without blinking an eyelid. Sadly, Kangana’s repeated use of screaming in the opening sequence weakens her character.
The mission
After the opening action sequence we are introduced to the prime antagonists Rudraveer (Arjun Rampal) and his love interest Rohini (Divya Dutta). The duo run an arms and human trafficking racket from a hidden location in Sohagpur coal fields, Bhopal. Agni is sent to find out the exact whereabouts of Rudraveer and take down the entire racket.
And then it goes downhill
This is exactly where the director fell victim to the bollywood virus. The spy scenes become formulaic. The added backstory of Kangana is another bollywood trope that adds to formulaic drama. The entire sequence of search for location of Rudraveer is insipid and uninspiring.
Inhuman Kangana or a medical marvel
The fight sequence in the middle of the movie finally takes away all the feel of watching something different. Watching Kangana get stabbed twice in stomach, and finally take a bullet to heart at point blank range makes one wonder how did she survive that?
The director just brushes off such fatal injuries and soon we have a training montage of Kangana. Typical bollywood drama.
A predictable end
The final fight and the ultimate plot twist can be seen from far away. Thus a movie that begins with a hollywood feel ends up being a typical bollywood fare at the end.
A patchy performance
Kangana as a spy is good in patches. While she is good in emotional scenes, her facial expressions in action scenes are very monotonous. Screaming at top of your voice does not make you James Bond. Arjun Rampal looks convincing as a villain, and Divya Dutta exudes evil. Saswata Chatterjee as the Handler maintains the composure of a spy operative, much better than Kangana.
Final Word
Dhaakad is what happens when you wake up thinking that you are Doug Liman out to create Bourne Identity, but your thought process matches that of Anurag Kashyap directing Bombay Velvet. To be avoided at all cost.
