Dharmendra is one of my favourite actors of all time. He is certainly my favourite Indian actor, and I even started a blog as a tribute to him. So you can imagine how excited I was at the prospect of 'Apne' - a film starring him and his sons Sunny and Bobby. I couldn't wait for it to come out, and having seen it, I am not disappointed at all. I loved every bit of the movie.
'Apne' is the story of a man (played by Dharmendra), a former boxer, who feels he has unjustly lost his dreams. Disappointed, he longs to be vindicated through his sons. Unfortunately, his older son, Angad (played by Sunny Deol) will not, and his younger son, Karan (Bobby Deol) cannot, rise up to fulfil their father's dreams... until some fateful moments in which everything (and I mean everything) changes... and this is the story of 'Apne'.
The performances in this film all deserve applause. Dharmendra is in his element - his acting is absolutely wonderful. Kirron Kher, as his wife, also hands in an emotional, nuanced performance. Sunny is great - I really enjoyed his performance, and Bobby is really good as well. Victor Bannerjee is excellent and deserves special kudos. Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif also do well (and look gorgeous). In fact, I find it really hard to criticise any of the performances in 'Apne'. Katrina could've done better with her acting and her Hindi, but I think this performance shows that she's developing as an actress and getting better with time. The best thing about the performances is that they are really natural, they flow so well, the emotion is always unforced and compelling (I guess the real-life relaitonship among the lead actors helped).
I'll admit that before seeing this movie, I was worried about the action (boxing) scenes - I thought that they might not be able to pull them off and make them look authentic. But I was wrong... the boxing scenes actually looked really good and realistic, and I would say the filmmakers did a very good job. The actors obviously did some training, and the make-up (blood etc) in the ring was quite convincing. Well done to the team.
Although I enjoyed this movie very, very much, I had some problems with the pacing of the plot (too fast in some parts, too slow in others), and felt it could've been tidier and better-paced. I also thought some of the sound effects were extreme and some of the sub-plots could have been pared down or left out. Some of the finishing felt rough, and a lot of the film was not very realistic, in my opinion. But all these are minor issues and did not detract from my overall enjoyment of this entertaining, moving film.
This film made me laugh, made me emotional, made me cheer - it reminded me of the best things in life (family, home, country) and it reminded me why I love Dharmendra so much. I would say 'Apne' has something for everyone - whether you like action, drama, romance or whatever - it has something for every movie fan.
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