Salman Khan is back with Prabhu Dheva’s action masala thriller
Action movie remakes seem to be the mantra for solidifying positions in Bollywood, and Salman Khan is hellbent on cementing his with Prabhu Dheva’s Wanted. Don’t go looking for an innovative plot or intense drama, it’s Salman Khan being the alpha male hero and generally getting violent with goons and cocky with the heroine and doing his good deed of the day before proceeding to kick the living shit out of some more taporis and a lewd cop.
There’s a whole bunch of dons and gangsters bending over to get sharpshooter Radhe (Khan) to work for them. Radhe is totally fearless and doesn’t give a shit about anything or anyone, except Ayesha Takia, who looks great and is being cute throughout the movie. Govind Namdeo (Bhau in Satya) is a Commissioner who is working towards making Mumbai crime-free and he’s put through some real bad mental torture towards the end. And then there’s Ganibhai, a hardcore underworld don who has some really funny scenes you’ll like.
The best thing I can say about Prabhu Dheva’s Wanted is it doesn’t get boring at all. If you’re looking for comparisons, Wanted has a lot more hardcore action than Ghajini. A whole bunch of gangsters including a trash-spouting moll, a lecherous inspector (Mahesh Manjrekar, convincingly detestable), Vinod Khanna and several other people who keep things too busy for your attention to divert.
Pappu Can Dance, Saala!
Prabhu Dheva seems to have had fun directing this with the Southern flavour, and he also makes Pappu dance, saala. Salman Khan is playing himself and has enough scenes to exaggerate that image. If you’re a fan, you’ll be totally entertained by his herogiri and there are also enough references to what Khan is in real life. Prabhu Dheva’s Wanted does for Salman Khan what Ghajini did for Aamir Khan.
The twist in the tale (?) makes you go ‘whaaa?’ even as the ruthless Ganibhai shoots Vinod Khanna. Ganibhai has some seriously funny scenes in the movie – when the cops don’t let him sleep as part of a torture routine – and when Radhe kills his men and has pounded him a bit, he cribs about how hard is it to find young criminals and how much effort he put into handpicking them. By now, Salman Khan has removed his shirt and I can hear oohs and aahs from around. The girl to my left exclaims she wants to marry Salman Khan and the one to my right is dumbstruck by his perfectly built upper body. Wanted is a remake of Pokiri (Telugu and Tamil) and I’m curious enough to check out the Tamil version.
VERDICT
Wanted is for fans of Salman Khan and Bollywood action masala. What were you expecting?
RATING: 2/5
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