Shikari (2000)
Starring: Govinda, Karisma, Tabu
Director: N. Chandra
Music Director: Aadesh Shrivastava
Synopsis: Govinda adds a new dimension to his repertoire with a negative role.
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

Shikari is one colossal mess, and the blame lies squarely at the feet of director N. Chandra, who handles the material with so little conviction that what might have become an engaging revenge thriller degenerates into an incoherent jumble of mismatched ideas.

The film opens in South Africa where wealthy spice magnate Rawal (Nirmal Pandey), his wife Suman (Tabu) and his sister Rajeshwari (Karisma Kapoor) preside over a flourishing business empire.

Their comfortable existence is disturbed by the arrival of the mysterious businessman Singhania, who throws down a commercial challenge to Rawal. Accepting the challenge, Rawal arranges a private "shikar" with his new rival, only to discover that the man posing as Singhania is in fact Om (Govinda).

Moments later, Rawal is dead.

Om calmly attends the mourning ceremonies, all the while concealing the fact that he is the killer. Rajeshwari becomes obsessed with finding her brother's murderer and even accuses Om at one point, but he effortlessly talks his way out of suspicion.

The audience, however, knows perfectly well that Om is guilty.

The only mystery is why.

Instead of developing this intriguing premise, the film abruptly detours into a romance between Om and Rajeshwari, despite the inconvenient fact that our hero finds ample time to commit two further murders in the meantime. Eventually, when Rajeshwari confesses her love for Om to her sister-in-law Suman, objections are raised and the truth behind Om's actions slowly begins to emerge.

N. Chandra, once capable of directing gritty and compelling dramas such as Ankush and Pratighaat, appears to have completely lost his narrative discipline here. His intention was clearly to present Govinda in a radically different role, but the film lurches awkwardly from thriller to broad comedy, from melodrama to romance and then into lengthy song sequences that bring whatever momentum exists to a grinding halt.

The result is exhausting rather than entertaining.

The greatest sin, however, is that the screenplay cheats its audience.

To explain precisely how would be to reveal the film's central twist, but suffice it to say that the writer deliberately withholds information in a manner that feels less like clever plotting than outright manipulation. A good thriller invites the audience to solve its puzzle. Shikari simply changes the rules whenever it suits itself.

The film toys with ideas of revenge, obsession and buried passion, yet never commits itself to exploring any of them. Even if these themes were the director's intention, they remain entirely superficial. There is no emotional weight behind Om's actions and consequently little involvement in the outcome.

It is refreshing to see Govinda stepping away from his familiar buffoonish comic persona, and one has to admire his willingness to experiment. Unfortunately, the character of Om is so poorly conceived that even his best efforts cannot inject credibility into it. The performance is earnest enough, but the writing never allows the character to become convincing.

Karisma Kapoor has a reasonably substantial role but spends much of the film shouting her way through it. It is hardly one of her more memorable performances.

Tabu, by contrast, once again demonstrates why she consistently rises above indifferent material. Even in a film as muddled as Shikari, she lends her scenes a quiet dignity and restraint that the rest of the production sorely lacks.

Nirmal Pandey, meanwhile, seems determined to outdo himself in the overacting department. One is left wondering why such a capable actor repeatedly accepted roles that demanded so little subtlety.

The music is equally disappointing. Apart from Kumar Sanu's pleasantly melodic "Bahut Khoobsurat Ghazal," the soundtrack is thoroughly forgettable and does little except interrupt an already uneven narrative.

Technically, Shikari possesses the ingredients for a reasonably engaging thriller. There is a potentially interesting mystery at its centre, a revenge motive waiting to be explored and an opportunity to present Govinda in an unfamiliar light. Unfortunately, N. Chandra never succeeds in moulding these elements into a coherent whole.

Instead, Shikari wanders aimlessly between thriller, romance, comedy and melodrama without mastering any of them.

In the hands of a director with firmer control over his material, this might have become an absorbing revenge drama.

Instead, it remains little more than an intriguing idea buried beneath a spectacularly confused film.