Apne....missed opportunity

Apne could have been a good movie. All it needed was some editing. I don't blame the director Anil Sharma, because constraint has never been one of his virtues. He is much happier dealing with raw emotional outbursts, the likes of which we witnessed in "Gadar" and "Hero". He could have managed to pull this caper too, had he not been caught in the mishmash of emotions that is Apne. The permutations and combinations are endless - between brother & brother, son & father, boxer & sport, husband & wife....and in the end its about "apne to apne hote hain".

The greatest disappointment is the climax. Too corny. Angad Chaudhary (Sunny Deol), national boxing champion, should have been much better in the ring. We all know that nobody can beat up sunny paaji and get away with it. Then why show the unnecessary carnage? The initial thrashing followed up with divine (in this case parental) intervention is too clichéd an idea. I would have loved something like crucial tips from father-cum-coach Dharmendra, who eluded his son till the very end because of a decade old grudge. Had Anil Sharma focused on just two emotions, Father & Son and reclaiming the lost glory in boxing, the climax would have been much more gripping & moving.
Sunny Deol was also undermined by giving him dialogues that invariably started with a docile, yet heart-moving "Papa...". That's the stuff you see in mimicry shows.
The other brother (Bobby Deol) delivers a good performance and I liked the way Sharma handled him. Not only does he look much fitter, his story is also the most impressive - a boy with a crippled hand who goes on to become a heavy weight contender (improbable yes, but not impossible).
Even Dharmendra, for whose performance I was waiting with bated breath, went about with an obnoxious expression ("main tera khoon pee jaunga") in almost the entire movie. He seemed angry at everything, venting his fury at glass tables, cement walls, newspapers - you name it. When he was not furious, he was crying - in his typical flaring-nostrils, rapid eye-blinking way. Why does he always end up in "Angry old man" roles? This was his home production, he could have crafted a role of his choice.
Talking about inconsistencies in the movie, there are many. But my favourite is: Why is Sunny Deol, who seems to weigh upwards of 100kg, fighting an opponent who is less than half his size? The person who played the role of the heavy weight champion wouldn't even scare a schoolgirl if you ask me, forget about the titanium-boned Dharmendra family.