Jo Bole So Nihaal

Article Updated 16 May, 2005 12:31:39 PM IST

Jo Bole So Nihaal

Sunny Deol movies are always a welcome outing for his fans. And when he comes in a solo lead role after a long break, it is bound to create curiosity. Catching the pulse of the audience that wants to see the daredevil son of the soil in action, director Rahul Rawail presents Sunny Deol in the role of a Sardar Jatt. Does he deliver what the audience expects from him? Does the movie register a long lasting impact? Is the movie really a Punjabi punch that would provide Bollywood its first bonafide all India Hit of 2005? The answer is NO! A silly 'chor-police' drama, JBSN is yet another instance of a movie, which is body beautiful minus soul.

Producer N.R. Pachisia made all resources available for the movie presented by Sahara One Movies. But sadly, the overall execution leaves a lot to be desired. The movie dwindles between engrossing - to lukewarm - to simply boring and at places one feels that even the director lost track of the proceedings being filmed. What could have been a fun filled action comedy turns out to be an insipid affair that makes one wonder why the movie was made in the first place.

The story is simple. Nihaal Singh [Sunny Deol] is an honest and a clean-hearted emotional cop in the Punjab police department, who accidentally looses out on catching a mercenary Romeo [Kamaal Khan]. Tainted as a traitor by the police department, he looses his job and also respect in his village. From here on, his only mission in life is to catch hold of Romeo, hand him over to the police and restore his family honor. Meanwhile Romeo is out on a mission in the US of A to (guess what?) shoot the President. The FBI is on a prowl on this nameless character, who has only been seen by our 'punjab-da-puttar'. The only clue around the personality of Romeo is that after every crime of his, he has a habit of first confessing his crime in the church and then killing the 'padre' as well. This is one of the weekend prime time hobbies for Mr. Romeo, who is flanked by his prized moll [Nupur Mehta], who does everything for him, from arranging fake passports, to doing item numbers in a club, to drawing up contracts with the terrorist group led by Rahul Rawail himself. Look out for his strange set of sunglasses and an unkempt look that hardly invokes any dread.

The FBI summons the Punjab Police in India. Nihaal Singh gets his 'vardi' back and from there goes on a mission to New York where he wants to be called as the 'Boss' by the FBI. The reason? He is the only person who has seen Romeo. The FBI agrees (strangely) and the chase begins. So far so good, as the plot seems to be settling in. In his journey of catching Romeo, he is also assigned a partner Suzanne [Shilpi Sharma], who spends more time changing her clothes, than giving any intelligent thought to catching the criminals. And from here on, the action begins...

The problem with JBSN is that post 'Gadar' and to an extent 'Indian', filmmakers have been taking Sunny Deol fans for granted. They expect audience to digest everything that he does or what happens in the movie with the sole hope that there would be 'taalis' and 'seetis' galore. Even in JBSN this works till the time the plot is being set. But after about an hour the movie starts loosing its grip. The game of cat and mouse is exciting in bits and pieces only to turn into an absolute letdown when the movie reaches its pre-climax aboard a cruise. The long driven sequence could have been most absorbing due to a grandeur setup. Instead, it results in a damp squib due to horrible screenplay and unnecessary introduction of characters (a Nihaal twin - 'Behaal' and Romeo impersonating as 'Tony Singh') that leads one nowhere and only succeeds in adding more confusion.

On the plus side, there are some comic moments in the movie, notably being Sunny's first conversation with the FBI, when he comes across a spoilt American kid at an airport, when he walks out of the limo and his thrashing of an informer in the FBI interrogation room. But these scenes are far and few between and they too get diluted due to some inane comedy where an actress of Surekha Sikir's [playing Nihal's mom] caliber is shown having fits in India whenever her dear son is dangerously close to a woman in USA! Just silly! Stylishly shot stunt sequences contribute to a rich look and feel of the movie, while the aerial shots focusing on Sunny and Shilpi on a run are breathtaking.

Negatives are numerous in number, notably being the way the FBI is projected in the movie. They hardly seem to be the authority that could control Nihaal and seem to be just waiting for things to happen. The most striking part is the open claim of the FBI in front of Sunny and Kamaal, where some officers divulge their plan to be the ones behind the President's murder plan. Hard to believe this! Even Romeo, who so far wouldn't reveal his identity even in front of his clients, suddenly jumps up to the occasion, claiming him to be the actual Romeo and establish yet another example of poor writing.

Car blasts take place on the heaviest streets of New York but there is no inquiry. Romeo runs away right in front of the FBI but no one chases him (despite a chopper hovering right over him). Shilpi double crosses the FBI and is still scot-free, while Deol kills 5 FBI people, drags Kamaal back to India in one single punch and still there are no questions asked. Agreed that 'masala' movies in Bollywood have been taking cinematic liberties for ages now but JBSN severely tests even the basic intelligence of a person.

The music is another downer, with just the title song (that has been picturised well too) registering any impact. The cinematography gives a rich look to the movie, while the action scenes are first rate. On the performance side, Sunny Deol (as expected) is in each and every frame and effortlessly delivers his part. He is the sole reason the movie can be watched until the end. He is good in comic scenes but it would be wrong to say that this is the first time he is displaying this persona of his. His brand of comedy has been witnessed even earlier in his action flicks. Both Shilpi and Nupur are required to look glamorous and act reasonably well and they succeed in doing so. Kamaal Khan does reasonably well in his debut as a main baddy. But how one wishes he could have been presented more stylishly and deadly. Thomas Umer Tevana playing the Indian-American guy in FBI stands out. Surekha Sikri could have gotten a better role, while Aroon Bakshi hams it up as always. The 'sister-jija' pair irritates big time and is one of the major stumbling blocks in the movie.

Overall, JBSN promised a lot through the promos but delivers little despite the interesting plot at hand. It doesn't have much of a chance amongst the multiplex crowds as the week progresses, while even in single theatres it will find difficult sailing. Absence of a biggie release next week may just about work in favor of JBSN to register as many collections as possible.

** (TWO STARS)
*poor; **average; ***good; ****very good; *****excellent

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