Nayak - The Real Hero (2001)
Starring: Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee
Director: Shankar
Music Director: A.R Rahman
Synopsis: Politically oriented remake of South Indian hit with Anil Kapoor is all at sea
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

This remake of a South Indian hit is a complete shambles. You would imagine that with the same director remaking his own film, half the work would already have been done. Indeed, there were claims that this Hindi version was superior to the original. If that is true, then the original must have been an utter disaster.

Shivaji Rao (Anil Kapoor) is a television journalist who publicly challenges the corrupt Chief Minister (Amrish Puri) over his administration. Rather than merely defend himself, the Chief Minister throws down an extraordinary challenge: if Shivaji believes he can do better, let him become Chief Minister for a day.

Before we get there, however, we are subjected to the now familiar parade of cinematic corruption—riots instigated for political gain, dishonest officials, bribery and every other cliché associated with Indian political dramas. It is territory that has been covered many times before, and far more effectively.

Accepting the challenge, Shivaji Rao somehow manages to transform the state within twenty-four hours. The public is instantly won over, and naturally begins clamouring for him to become the real Chief Minister.

This, unsurprisingly, does not sit well with the entrenched political elite, who immediately begin plotting his downfall.

Along the way Shivaji finds himself caked in mud, wrapped in chains and reduced to fighting hordes of villains in little more than his underwear—a sequence which reportedly cost a fortune to film but is so absurdly staged that it provokes laughter rather than excitement.

Eventually Shivaji becomes Chief Minister permanently, leaving him to battle a triumvirate of villains determined to destroy him.

Threaded through all this political manoeuvring is the obligatory romance with the dusky Manjali (Rani Mukherjee). Somehow, despite running an entire state, Shivaji still finds plenty of opportunities to slip away into the countryside, disguised as an ordinary villager, sharing "rookhi sookhi roti" in the fields while secretly investigating corruption.

Manjali's father forbids the relationship, believing it far too dangerous to be associated with Shivaji. The film promptly proves him right when, after one romantic song, the village comes under attack, complete with exploding huts, flying vehicles and enough mayhem to resemble a war zone.

All ends well, though unfortunately not for the audience.

This is such a ramshackle production that it creaks its way to a painfully dull conclusion long after one's patience has evaporated.

The director is the captain of the ship, and this particular vessel begins taking on water remarkably early in the proceedings. The film never escapes its distinctly South Indian flavour, and is punctuated by one unnecessary song after another, each serving only to slow the already lumbering narrative.

The music is perhaps A.R. Rahman's weakest score. In fact, it is so uninspired that one begins to wonder whether it really is his work at all.

Anil Kapoor gives the role everything he can and turns in a respectable performance, but there is only so much an actor can do when the material surrounding him is so weak. His efforts are largely wasted.

Rani Mukherjee fares even worse in what is an utterly thankless role. One is left wondering what persuaded her to accept such an insubstantial part in the first place.

The production values are undeniably lavish. Vast sums have clearly been spent on elaborate sets and extravagant song picturisations, but money alone cannot disguise the emptiness at the film's core. The "Saiyyan" sequence, complete with snakes rising dramatically while entire armies collapse around them, belongs more comfortably in a children's fantasy than in what is supposedly a serious political drama.

This one's a dud.

Give it a miss.