This is about 'Brothers'......
Perfect casting is an integral part of great film-making. Recent examples can be cited of 'Badlapur' and 'Haider' where every small role had a capable actor at its helm. Also, these were the only two films where I would like to swap the 'lead actor' for one another, i.e. Shahid for Badlapur and Varun for Haider. They could have done justice to their roles in altered scenario, regardless.
I am a great admirer of Akshay Kumar. He is a true professional and very capable actor who doesn't complain about his roles and choices once he commits himself to a producer and his films. He has been much derided in the past for his choices but those who are aware of his professionalism, knows that he is capable of remarkable feats. So when my great friend, Ambareesh Singh first told me about the official Bollywood remake of 'Warriors' and that Akshay Kumar is the first lead, I was very happy. We were together in Rajasthan watching 'Hasee to Phansee' and were very impressed with performances of both Parineeti and Siddharth's. The film itself was excellent and stood true to the premise of a 'rom-com' and this can only be said about one more film from 2014 - 'Happy Ending' starring Saif and Illeana. Coincidentally the news broke out that Siddharth has been confirmed as the second lead of 'Brothers' and I was over the moon. 'Ek Villain' later in the year, confirmed my confidence in Siddhartha.
But 'Brothers' is not special because of their presence. It is pretty special because it re-launched 'Ashutosh Rana', 'Jackie Shroff' and 'Kiran Kumar' s careers. They were exceptional actors of the past and together with 'Ashoke Lakhande', created a manic magic on-screen. I had seen 'Warrior' and knew this casting would work exceptionally well for Indian audiences but then the story changed.......
Karan Malhotra, who was excellent with revamped 'Agnipath' thought that this time too, an amalgamation of 'melodrama' and 'adrenaline-pumping action' in heavy doses shall do the trick but Alas, this wasn't the case to be. All the things that were great with Agnipath were outstanding with Brothers too (like great sets, excellent photography and outstanding camera angles...hell, even Kareena can be passed as more than good) but What Karan missed here was 'Warrior' was an out-and-out 'MIXED MARTIAL ARTS' film. It is a technical sport, unlike the boxing and 'professional' wrestling and requires greater understanding from audiences. 'Warrior' too wasn't a hugely successful commercial film. It did good only in USA and Canada which have been traditional markets for UFC and MMA. Plus what worked for Warrior is that it had an IOTA of emotion, just enough to make 'Joel Edgerton' and 'Nick Nolte' looked vulnerable on screen. But our Hindi remake was dripping with emotions and melodrama at every point. With every bone splattering and cracking of Siddhartha and Akshay's bodies, all one could hear was the sound of 'BHAIYA' wrenching out of their guts.......I was left hugely disappointed with this viewing and was feeling more so later realizing there were so many things that could have made it an absolutely memorable experience...........#Aghast........#HorrorShow.......#BrothersNotToBe
Perfect casting is an integral part of great film-making. Recent examples can be cited of 'Badlapur' and 'Haider' where every small role had a capable actor at its helm. Also, these were the only two films where I would like to swap the 'lead actor' for one another, i.e. Shahid for Badlapur and Varun for Haider. They could have done justice to their roles in altered scenario, regardless.
I am a great admirer of Akshay Kumar. He is a true professional and very capable actor who doesn't complain about his roles and choices once he commits himself to a producer and his films. He has been much derided in the past for his choices but those who are aware of his professionalism, knows that he is capable of remarkable feats. So when my great friend, Ambareesh Singh first told me about the official Bollywood remake of 'Warriors' and that Akshay Kumar is the first lead, I was very happy. We were together in Rajasthan watching 'Hasee to Phansee' and were very impressed with performances of both Parineeti and Siddharth's. The film itself was excellent and stood true to the premise of a 'rom-com' and this can only be said about one more film from 2014 - 'Happy Ending' starring Saif and Illeana. Coincidentally the news broke out that Siddharth has been confirmed as the second lead of 'Brothers' and I was over the moon. 'Ek Villain' later in the year, confirmed my confidence in Siddhartha.
But 'Brothers' is not special because of their presence. It is pretty special because it re-launched 'Ashutosh Rana', 'Jackie Shroff' and 'Kiran Kumar' s careers. They were exceptional actors of the past and together with 'Ashoke Lakhande', created a manic magic on-screen. I had seen 'Warrior' and knew this casting would work exceptionally well for Indian audiences but then the story changed.......
Karan Malhotra, who was excellent with revamped 'Agnipath' thought that this time too, an amalgamation of 'melodrama' and 'adrenaline-pumping action' in heavy doses shall do the trick but Alas, this wasn't the case to be. All the things that were great with Agnipath were outstanding with Brothers too (like great sets, excellent photography and outstanding camera angles...hell, even Kareena can be passed as more than good) but What Karan missed here was 'Warrior' was an out-and-out 'MIXED MARTIAL ARTS' film. It is a technical sport, unlike the boxing and 'professional' wrestling and requires greater understanding from audiences. 'Warrior' too wasn't a hugely successful commercial film. It did good only in USA and Canada which have been traditional markets for UFC and MMA. Plus what worked for Warrior is that it had an IOTA of emotion, just enough to make 'Joel Edgerton' and 'Nick Nolte' looked vulnerable on screen. But our Hindi remake was dripping with emotions and melodrama at every point. With every bone splattering and cracking of Siddhartha and Akshay's bodies, all one could hear was the sound of 'BHAIYA' wrenching out of their guts.......I was left hugely disappointed with this viewing and was feeling more so later realizing there were so many things that could have made it an absolutely memorable experience...........#Aghast........#HorrorShow.......#BrothersNotToBe
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