Abhishek Bachchan revisits 21 Years of his romantic action drama Run with Subhash K Jha.
What makes this Tamil-to-Hindi adaptation nominally watchable is the way director Jeeva treats the very old and very predictable story of a headstrong boy from a semi-hick town who falls in love in the metro with the coy and simpering sister of a monstrously possessive gangster who, we are told, chops off a boy’s limb for teasing his precious sister.
“Tum ho hi aisi. Would you prefer girls to tease you? Any boy would do what my son did,” says the limbless boy’s hot-blooded dad.
Sanskar, as you can see, isn’t high on this film’s list of priorities. In fact, a whole commodious parallel subplot featuring the insufferably aggressive Vijay Raaz runs through the main love story. Raaz calls his screen dad (Anjan Shrivastava) every name from a boozard to a smelly skunk. Long live Shravan Kumar.
Elsewhere, the diffident and determined Sidhu (Abhishek Bachchan) glares at his poor Jeejaji (Mukesh Rishi) with such seeming malevolence that the poor guy becomes a cowering and cringing intruder in his own house.
These diversions in the main love story are quite amusing, provided you aren’t finicky about the lack of originality and even basic logic in the plot. You tend to baulk at the very idea of the lover-boy from Allahabad(a nice touch that, since it takes young Bachchan back to his roots) being hounded by a gangster in Delhi.
Aren’t gangsters a part of Mumbai’s subculture? And shouldn’t the brother-lover conflict have been more electrifying? Otherwise, the film allows you to be indulgent towards Abhishek Bachchan’s Siddhu, a blunt small-town boy who falls in love with the girl with the dreamy smile at first sight, and tells her so right away.
“Didn’t you smile back?” he challenges when the girl pulls him up for being so aggressive.
Quickie campus courtship?
Cinematographer–director Jeeva shoots the entire film in fading light. Romance, which is generally done in velvety colours, gets a granite treatment. The sequence where Siddhu sees Jahanvi in the bus for the first time (now why on earth is a powerful gangster’s sister travelling by bus??) is a treat for the way Abhishek’s smile and eyes light up the screen.
The character’s blunt approach to love and violence are the film’s main and perhaps only sustaining point. Siddhu makes up his mind that he loves the girl. Getting her is only a matter of time… and sustained violence. A mood of casual inevitability and offhand violence runs across the plot. The Southern directors know how to turn the corkscrew, even if the bottle is largely empty.
Contrary to its title, the film frequently loses momentum. The dialogues in the romantic scene are more improvisational and dramatic. The romantic songs (tuned by Himesh Reshammiya as self-consciously trendy) are shot innovatively and with uncharacteristic humour. But they impede the film’s fast and furious flow to its combative end where Siddhu and the girl’s obsessive, implicitly incestuous brother battle it out fist to fist, hand to hand, climax-to-finale.
The reason why the pedestrian plot rocked in Tamil was the antagonist played by Atul Kulkarani. In Hindi, Mahesh Manjrekar has already done the grimace-and-gore routine in Kaante. His character fails to be either menacing or mirthful. The actor doesn’t fail as much as the character. Manjrekar’s Ganpati is plain exasperating.
What motivates the menacing mood are some expertly shot action sequences. The highlight of the Tamil film—a fist-to-fist confrontation between Siddhu and a truckload of Ganpati’s goons in a subway—is also the highlight of this film. Watching Abhishek play the larger-than-life hero for the first time is fun. Like his father he makes the action sequences look flamboyant and yet real.
Again like Manjrekar’s Ganpati, Bachchan’s Siddhu is an inconsistent character. In one sequence he’s beaten unconscious by the goons. In another he takes them on Superman style! In one sequence he hides when the goons spot him with the girl in a movie theatre (again, a very slickly shot suspenseful interlude). But in no time at all he’s throwing drawling challenges at the girl’s abrasive brother.
More consistently portrayed is the love-hate relationship between Siddhu and his brother-in-law. In portraying mutual discomfort both Abhishek and Mukesh Rishi arrive at a comfort level , denied to the other situations in the plot.
Tragically, beyond those shy smiles exchanged on the buses and stolen strolls down Delhi’s bylanes, there’s little passion or intensity between the lovers. Most of the time the love birds behave more like two young people who are JUST getting to know each other rather than lovers who’ve decided to spend their lives together, come what may.
Abhishek’s Siddhu is as endearing as Madhavan in the original. That abashed smile and those ever-talkative eyes convey the first flush of love and the rage at its denial. This film depends almost entirely on his charms to see it through. Abhishek is willing…and stable.
Exasperatingly Vijay Raaz hogs as much footage as the leading man, if not more. In the 1960s Mehmood would often be given as much chuckling space as the hero. To allot the comedian the same footage in a film about intense love is to play disco-dandiya tunes during a romantic opera.
It’s the oldfashioned plot interweavement and its insouciant flaunting of banality that finally out-runs the other virtues of Run, namely some inventive action, stark cinematography and of course Abhishek Bachchan.
In an interview with Subhash K Jha , Abhishek Bachchan recalls the experience of shouldering a solo-hero film. “In the midst of several multi-hero films like Yuva and Dhoom it’s a solo-hero film and the responsibility is therefore multiplied. People seem to think Run is an out-and-out action film. I disagree. Zameen was an action film. Run is a romantic-action. I think the audience likes to see me in action films. But to be honest, I don’t think audiences want to see heroes being typecast. If they like a film they like the actor. Look at what Hrithik Roshan did in Koi… Mil Gaya! I’d like to be versatile. If a film has good action, it better be a part of a good story . And the performances better be good. That’s the only way to get an audience. To that extent Run qualifies as a potential hit. I remember when producer Boney Kapoor showed me the Tamil original what I liked was the straightforward commercialism, and the basic and linear nature of the product. And that’s the way the Hindi version should be perceived. I don’t think it’s right to sell a film on false promises. Run is a run-of-the-mill entertainer. It’s three hours of diversion. It’s a simple unpretentious action romantic musical. Go , enjoy and come back. It’s about a small-town boy who falls in love with city girl wins her and takes on the family. But the USP is the confrontations with the girl’s brother played by Mahesh Manjrekar. In most of our films the hero takes it upon himself as a challenge to win over the girl’s family. In Run I really couldn’t care less. My character Siddharth says, ‘I love you and I don’t care what your family thinks or says as long as you love me back.’ I play an aggressive character . I like that. I think aggression is a very strong emotion. It should be used sparingly and sensibly. But I identified with my character’s single-minded determination. Siddharth is very clear-headed. It’s very difficult to be that way in today’s day and age. Interestingly Siddharth is a guy from Allahabad who comes from Delhi. Allahabad is my Dad’s home town. It felt wonderful to shoot in the city where my father was born, albeit for just one day. However I don’t sport a UP accent. I feel mainstream cinema must shed its regional plumes. Provincial characters have been reduced to caricatures. I feel sad to see people from UP being portrayed as a ‘Bhaiyya’ with gamchas tied on their heads. I was glad to be just a regular guy from Allahabad.”
Abhishek was all praise for his co-star Bhoomika Chawla. “Bhoomika is a very accomplished actress. Though she’s a Punjabi girl from Mumbai she’s made a name in Southern films. After Tere Naam she’s become a name in Hindi films. She had a huge star like Salman for her co-star in Tere Naam. I hope I haven’t let her down in Run. I’ve worked with a whole lot of established filmmakers like J.P.Dutta, Dharmesh and Suniel Shetty, and now Ram Gopal Varma, Mani Rathnam… But I also enjoy working with new directors. For the direction of Run we’ve Jeeva who was the cinematographer of the original Tamil. Jeeva is the most energetic person I’ve ever come across. He’s forever on a caffeine-high. He just can’t sit in one place. He’s also the cinematographer of Run. He’s shot me wonderfully. What made the film more exciting was the presence of Mahesh Manjrekar as my adversary on screen. Not only is he an accomplished director but also an excellent actor. It was a pleasure discovering that side of Mahesh . He had the unit in splits. He creates a wonderful atmosphere on the sets. Run is a bigger responsibility for me. Because I’ve to carry the film on my own shoulders. But an ensemble cast like Yuva and Dhoom is so much fun.”
