Krantiveer (The Revolution)

Mehul Kumar’s KRANTIVEER THE REVOLUTION is releasing on 25th June 2010 is a sequel to the 1994 super hit film KRANTIVEER of Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia, where debut ant, (filmmaker Mehul Kumar’s daughter) Jahan Bloch is playing their daughter.Produced under the banner of White City Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, its Story, Screenplay & Direction is by Mehul Kumar.KRANTIVEER- THE REVOLUTION, has music by Sachin-Jigar, lyrics by Sameer. The film stars Samir Aftab, Aditya Singh Rajput, Harsh Rajput & Introducing Jahan Bloch with… Ranjeet, Farida Jalal, Govind Namdeo, Mukesh Tiwari, Aman Verma, Hiten Paintal, Raj Premi, Ashok Samarth, Anil Nagrath. Darshan Jariwala, Suhasini Mulay, Avtar Gill has special appearances in the film. 

The young daughter of the man responsible for the last revolution Pratap Narayan Tilak is now wielding the power of media as a fearless journalist. Roshni has inherited not only the courage and sting of her legendary father but also the spirited lingo and the indomitable style.

The last time around, we rooted out the devils that came from across the seas. Now, the demons are within. And they are more vicious and wicked. We need to fight them with a new force and energy. The youth. They are now ready to act only to stop, when they have achieved their mission to rid the society of evils corruption, anarchy & terrorism.

The film industry itself has been destroyed by wretched “corporates”, the film suggests, referring to ‘suits who self-assuredly swagger about, “crack open laptops, and know nothing of creativity”. They've turned the commerce of movies completely upside down, “Those (actors) who took in lakhs, now talk in cores.”

You hear the point. Krantiveer (literally: Revolution Brave), if you care to remember (and how can you not?), was a huge, hit film of ’94. This was a time when Nana Patekar’s high-pitched hamming was a barometer of Bollywood’s box office success. Certainly, this film’s makers can’t quite afford Mr Patekar for a supposed sequel anymore. They’ve cast instead the producer-director's daughter sitting at home.

It's the same director, by the way, who Amitabh Bachchan (a drunk surgeon) chose to mark his return to movies with in ’97 (Mrityudaata; post-politics, before KBC). Much has changed, in Bollywood, and otherwise. The filmmakers frustration shows.

Television, he argues, is that weapon of mass distraction that can truly rattle up a sickening political-industrial complex: TV media is the “aaj ki date ki sabse badi taakat (strongest power at present).” Camera alone can cure corruption of all sorts.

The filmmaker directs his seething angst first against “white collar tycoons” who pawn sexual favours for plum jobs at their companies. A head-honcho, actor Aman Verma, is caught with his pants down on TV. As he was in a sting operation once. The gent on screen is jailed instantly for sexual misconduct. His real self had run into no such poor luck with India TV back then.

But, make no mistake. This film and its creatively titled television show Jhooth Ke Khilaaf Sach Ka Jung (War of truth against lies) aren't after silly, small fries.

Besides the colonial British, and current robber barons, the portly politician is the picture’s pet, prime-time peeve: aged, illiterate, sexually deviant, morally bankrupt, communally divisive ministers and members of parliament who plant “cycle bombs” on streets and “treat issues like tissue paper”, merely to use and throw.

They exchange notes on the (stupid) Indian public on the phone. And gather around in a semi-circle of sofas at their garish den, sipping on whiskey, moving to natch girls pelvic thrusts. Globalist is but upon us. The women are Russian.

Constituents certainly deserve better. They get to chase these “white khadis” on to the streets, garland them in chap pals, blacken the faces, whack ‘em hollow, kick them hard…

Such the catharsis: You finally feel psychologically satiated, morally redeemed. Mental exhaustion is too minor a price to pay for this cutesy honesty. Come on, give it a shot. I dare you.

Roshni (Jahan Bloch) is the young daughter of the man responsible for the last revolution, Pratap Narayan Tilak and his wife (Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia). She just like her dad wants to rid the nation of corruption, and the evils present in the society. She gets herself a platform by joining a TV channel as an investigative journalist. She is hell bent on exposing all the scams in the country including those involving high profile businessmen and top ministers. Along with her friends Vishal (Samir Aftab), Goldie (Aditya Singh Rajput) and Uday (Harsh Rajput) she takes this crusade forward and becomes successful eventually despite many odds.

The sole reason why Krantiveer was a success was because of KK Singh’s dialogues, Nana Patekar’s character and Mehul Kumar’s direction. Here Singh is not involved with the project, Nana is not acting in the film and the veteran director though having made a sincere attempt, falls short. There is no direct relation of the plot to any of the 26/11 terror attack scenes which come towards the climax. Though Mehul Kumar has tried to show authenticity by using footage of the 26/11 terrorists attacks, he fails to impress the audiences.

His debutante daughter Jahan has been made to rant lengthy dialogues from the word go. While she does it with sincerity, it doesn’t really work. Too much responsibility has been given on her shoulders leaving less scope for the rest. New comers Samir Aftab, Adiya Singh Rajput, Harsh Rajput put in their honest efforts too. Senior actors like Ranjeet, Farida Jalal hardly get any scope to perform. Aman Verma playing the corporate head honcho, Mukesh Tiwari and Govind Namdeo playing sleazy ministers act well.

Music by Sachin-Jigar is passable and the songs “Khuda mere khuda’ and “Chhote tera birthday aaya’ work on screen. But the songs “Firangi paani’ and “Lau jalee’ were not needed. Editing and cinematography don't match up to standards.

Though it may not be worth an effort to go to the cinema hall, the film definitely appears like a genuine attempt to awaken the young Indians to come forward and erase corruption from our politics.