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	Releasing On - 26-04-2024

A girl covered in oil sings while a muscular man in a black hooded overcoat slashes around a fancy dagger. It’s supposed to be an opening sequence, the kind you see before James Bond movies. One assumes its purpose is to make Zanjeer seem a little exotic. It’s certainly a first in Hindi movies. It makes little sense given Zanjeer is a film about an angry young man and not a well-dressed super spy. But it at least acts as a precursor to the hero’s war against the oil mafia. That’s 2013’s Zanjeer for you. It’s a lavishly budgeted and very indulgent reboot. But as any wise film guru will tell you, more money doesn’t get you better movie.

Apoorva Lakhia’s movie loves to borrow. It takes the legacy of Prakash Mehra’s original but it also slavishly scrounges scenes from Hollywood movies like The Artist, True Lies and many more. In doing so it turns the angry young man’s saga into a run-of-the-mill action movie. Like the original, Vijay (Ram Charan) is troubled by the nightmare of a white horse prancing in a beastly manner. It reminds him of the horrific memory of his parents being murdered by the hooded fellow who was dancing with a dagger in the opening sequence. The killer has a horse tattooed on his forearm. Nonetheless, it’s the nightmare that’s supposed to give Vijay his angst. But in all fairness his devil-may-care attitude looks cockier than misplaced anger. Sometimes you just think he has steroid induced rage. Who beats up people half to death because they’re causing traffic nuisance? Even if they’re bad guys, Ram Charan’s Vijay is a little too intensely violent.

His rage is directed towards the oil mafia that’s headed by a guy who’s straight out of the National Lampoon films. Prakash Raj’s Teja dresses like Bourgeois, uses XXL packs of Viagra and has a plastic gold gun. Oh and he watches reruns of 1973’s Zanjeer with his love interest Mona. And then you have Priyanka Chopra, who’s Mala, an NRI from New York. She performs item numbers at her Facebook friend’s wedding while going under the alias of Pinky. Unfortunately she witnesses a murder and becomes Vijay’s aide in cracking on the oily bad guys. Also helping Vijay is Sanjay Dutt as Sher Khan. He’s just a good hearted mafia member. He even gives up years of his illegal business because Vijay exchanges a few manly blows with him. Their bromance adds a nice touch of levity to the proceedings.

In all seriousness, watching Zanjeer can be a funny experience. At times you feel it’s a homage, at times you feel it’s a parody and then sometimes you feel it’s a YouTube video. This big ticket movie is unfair to the talents of its actors. Watch Telugu movies like Chirutha, Magadheera and Racha to know what Ram Charan is actually capable of. But this is showbiz. Most people will forget this movie in no time. That’s the sad truth.