Angel ( Fails to gel )

Cast: Nilesh Sahay,Maddalsa Sharma,Aruna Irani,Manoj Joshi,Vaishali Thakkar

Director: Ganesh Acharya

If you thought Ganesh Acharya had done his worst in Money Hai Toh Honey Hai, Angel is going to be a surprise! A film on a very sensitive subject, Angel turns out to be a complete disaster in every aspect from casting to execution. A freak accident involving Abhay (Nilesh) kills a person. Abhay is sent to prison for two years but when he gets out. He remains the irresponsible and irritating chap. Though his family clearly tells him that he is not required in the house Abhay shamelessly hangs on, without understanding that people don't like him. His friends too show him the door. He finally finds a friend in the daughter of the deceased victim. Sonal (Maddalsa) too has no friends as she is suffering from cerebral palsy. Her brother and sister in law stay in a posh house while she is kept with a maid in a chawl.

Angel could have been a tear jerker love story. But the film is marred by a bad screenplay. The characters are never established. You fail to understand why Abhay, who comes out of the jail after a 2-year sentence, never behaves sensibly but instead continues being an idiot. In the meantime Sonal's condition is also not explained and neither does she evoke empathy. The entire first half is lost without any progress in the story. The second half has one single twist, which too is badly handled to have any impact. Ideally the twist should have come around interval to help the pace and sustain the interest. The dialogues too are unworthy. The editing is loose. The look of the film is probably the only thing good as it has been shot decently. The songs are not good enough to stay in your mind once you are out of the theatre. And the background music, which has been done by the veteran Aadesh Shrivastav, is absolutely out of place. Performances are forgettable. Nilesh Sahay will need a lot more than his lineage to survive. He is bad and tries too hard to walk like his uncle Sanjay Dutt. The blame should go squarely on him and the director! Maddalsa Sharma, who has done South Indian films before, is inconsistent. It is a tough role that she plays though she has very few dialogues. She fails to do justice to the physical impairment. Overall, Angel is a bad attempt at film making. It needed a director who could have handled emotions and tough situation better and Ganesh Acharya does not seem to make the grade.Choreographer turned helmer Ganesh Acharya fetish for 70’s came into existence when he gave his first impression as a helmer in ‘Swami’ which moved a bit. The movie starring Manoj Bajpai and Juhi Chawla didn’t ring much bells but Ganesh entry into the helmers club was welcomed.

He then himself threatened to resign from the elite club by giving a turkey like ‘Money Hai Toh Honey Hai’. Now he wants to tell us that dude, my cinematic inspirations are beyond Bollywood so he mixes the desi liquor borrowed from Dulal Guha’s ‘Dushman’ (1971) starring Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz and Mena Kumari. And mixes it with the Korean wine called Oasis (2002) by the master film maker Chang-dong Lee which is and will remain the most stunning, brave and perhaps the best love stories told on celluloid in the last decade if I let pass the beautiful Iranian story of love by Mohammad Ahmady proudly known as ‘Poet of the Wastes’(2002). Well it’s a crime to compare such cinema with this one but when you get inspired from such magnificent work of art like ‘Dushman’ and ‘Oasis’ then my dear your vision should be clear. But alas, Ganesh’s ‘Angel’ doesn’t gel and the operation ends up more interesting in theory than it is on the screen.

Debutant Nilesh Sahay drives his bike recklessly going home after a party, and he kills a man in the accident. Surprisingly he is jailed for two years only. Coming out of the jail, Nilesh goes to his elder brother Manoj Joshi. Manoj allows Nilesh to work in his garage on the condition that he would behave well in future. Nilesh goes with flowers to the house of his accident victim. The dead man had left behind a son and a daughter. The daughter is handicapped and the son does not care for his sister. He had even discontinued her physiotherapy. Nilesh develops a soft corner for the girl played by debutante Maddalsa Sharma. They are caught by the brother in a tender moment. He accuses Nilesh of rape. A friend and Maddalsa try to save him.

Choreographer turned director Ganesh Achary makes mess of a theme. The script is full of loopholes and utterly unconvincing from the start to the finish. The pace is slow and it drags most of the time. The only saving grace is Maddalsa Sharma. She looks pleasant and lively despite being physically challenged. Nilesh is playful but his antics are annoying instead pleasing. Manoj Joshi is okay. Aruna Irani makes a brief appearance. Amjad Nadeem’s music does not lift up the film.