Parwana (2003)
Cast: Ajay Devgun, Amisha Patel, Pooja Batra
Director: Deepak Bahry
Music Director: Sanjeev Darshan
Synopsis: Dreadful terrorism based potboiler manages only to dull the viewers senses!
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

Yet another Bollywood foray into terrorism and the evil machinations of people—obviously from across the border—with Kashmir once again serving as the backdrop. Sadly, the film is so tediously dull in its opening stages that it is a wonder many viewers will stay long enough to reach the point where proceedings improve marginally. And "marginally" is the operative word, because this is vintage Tinnu Verma/Bahry territory—clumsy, dated and pretty awful.

The film opens with Shahtaj (Sharat Saxena) passionately advocating an independent Kashmir and, with assistance from Pakistan, orchestrating a bomb blast in an amusement park that kills scores of innocent people.

We then cut to Parwana (Ajay Devgn), a small-time thief whose partner in crime is played by Pooja Batra. What follows is an endless succession of dreary scenes in which the duo steal from others only to donate the proceeds to the poor—a Robin Hood routine that has been recycled countless times before and with considerably greater success.

One day Parwana encounters Pooja—disguised as a bearded Sikh—who promptly lands in a swimming pool alongside him, only to emerge moments later without the beard or turban. Parwana falls hopelessly in love within seconds.

Cue the inevitable song.

Before you have time to blink, the pair are married. Determined to reform, Parwana takes an honest job while his adoring wife spends her days bringing him lunch and gazing lovingly at her husband in an apron. She is so distracted by her affection that she casually walks into the path of an oncoming car. At that point, I must confess I rather hoped Pooja's character had met her maker, so insipid and uninvolving is she. Fate, however, has other ideas. She survives, but the doctors announce that an expensive blood transfusion and treatment will require Rs 50,000.

Faced with no alternative, our reformed thief returns to his old profession. During a robbery he snatches a briefcase from a stranger, only to discover that it contains a bomb. Suddenly branded a terrorist, Parwana finds himself hunted by the authorities while desperately trying to prove his innocence and stop the real conspirators from carrying out their deadly plans.

Bahry's latest offering is as lifeless as they come, offering precious little in the way of genuine entertainment. From the opening reel onwards it is an exercise in tedium, with dull action, predictable plotting and painfully uninspired direction. Ajay Devgn must surely have regretted signing this project, especially coming after a string of films that had finally begun to showcase his abilities as an actor. Having languished in production for years, the film positively groans under its own age, staggering wearily towards an utterly forgettable finale.

Amisha Patel delivers yet another painfully weak performance. Quite how she ever convinced herself that she was destined to challenge Bollywood's leading actresses remains something of a mystery. Charmless, awkward and thoroughly unconvincing, she contributes little beyond looking decorative.

The songs are every bit as forgettable as the film itself.

Another horror from Bahry—and not in the way the horror fans might hope.