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Somebody save us from this superhero!
Krrish 3 ends on such a scary note that it curdles your insides. If this is going to spoil the movie for you, so be it. Krishna and Priya have a baby boy, who suddenly disappears from his cot in the hospital and the two look up at an upper corner of the room with smiles on their faces. This floating baby must have been born with ‘jadoo’ and there is going to be a ‘Krrish 5’ and a ‘Krrish 7’ and a ‘Krrish 9’. Somebody save us from this superhero!
Having Rakesh Roshan helm a futuristic sci-fi superhero flick is a bit like asking Sir Geoffrey Boycott to bat like Chris Gayle. Come on, good ol’ Guddu made films like Khudgarz and Kishen Kanhaiyya and King Uncle and has been making these cheesy, melodramatic potboilers for over a quarter of a century. And even if you spend crores on superior VFX and hire foreigners to make you shiny metal armours and smooth body suits, you can’t stop every frame from whispering: “Aayenge... mere Karan Arjun aayenge!”
Karan Arjun here is, of course, the masked messiah Krrish, who for the lack of a homegrown superhero (Shaktiman never made it to the big screen) and zilch competition in the form of G.One, is a huge brand at the box office. He does everything a Bollywood hero does — sing and dance, laugh and cry, roar and whimper, punch and pull — plus run like Usain Bolt and jump from roof to roof.
Sang hawaaon ke woh aaya hai... he’s Krrish! Tera mera hi woh saaya hai... he’s Krrish! Issh issh issh!
I sat through the three hours (including the interval) but I have no idea why the sequel to Krrish was called Krrish 3 and not ‘Krrish 2’. Was it because Hrithik Roshan plays Krrish, Krishna and Rohit? Was it because they consider Koi... Mil Gaya as the first film, Krrish the second and Krrish 3 the third? How confusing! Or was it a simple case of numerology? Given that it’s primarily for children, you wouldn’t want to teach them the wrong numbers table to start with, would you?
Then again ‘why’ is a question you do not ask while watching Krrish 3. You do not ask ‘why’ a superhero who lives in a lavish house in Mumbai is looking for the job of a security guard! You do not ask ‘why’ everyone’s dancing to Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram on Krrish’s birthday!
This took seven years and six writers (Rakesh Roshan, Honey Irani, Robin Bhatt, Irfan Kamal, Akarsh Khurana, Sanjay Masoom)?! To come up with this villain who fuses different animals’ DNAs like he is mixing pasta with paaya and biryani with bruschetta?! To come up with a plot which is a forced reworking of brothers good and bad lost in Kumbh Mela? To come up with much-seen set-pieces from Hollywood’s superhero films?
If titling his films with ‘K’ wasn’t enough, now Roshan Sr names most of his characters with ‘K’ too. Besides Krrish, there’s Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) and Kaaya (Kangana Ranaut). Kaal cannot move neck down. Yes, Hrithik’s condition from Guzaarish. Nice payback there. But Krrish himself seems to be suffering from Parkinson’s, the way his face shakes all the time. That must be his hidden super power to be revealed in future sequels. Kaaya is the chameleon who can change herself to any person. And once changed, she doesn’t even sound like Kangana, which must be the real super power.
Besides the top-notch VFX (Red Chillies, ironically) and action (Siu Tung Ching and Shyam Kaushal), the only bright thing about Krrish 3 is the goodness it tries to attach. From “Krrish ek soch hai” to “Hum sab mein Krrish hai”, there is an attempt to awaken the hero in everyone, especially kids. But you still can’t help feeling that even children, those who’ve watched The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, would find this dumbed-down desi dummy dull and almost despicable.
The performances do not help matters. Hrithik’s Rohit, who was endearing as the man-child in Koi... Mil Gaya, is infuriatingly irritating here as the old scientist father. Hrithik as Krishna looks largely disinterested and very conscious about his painstakingly sculpted body and its language. Hrithik as Krrish has nothing to do except hop and skip.
Priyanka has two songs to dance to and then facially alternates between surprise and shock. Kangana has the meatier role and is quite the smooth criminal. And despite being locked to a wheelchair, Vivek really has fun playing the devil and it shows. Maybe because he’s locked to the wheelchair. Rekha and Preity Zinta thankfully remain framed on the wall.
The music by Rajesh Roshan is so archaic that they should give iPods at the gates with a separate playlist during the songs. We are family, you see, er hear. The background music by Salim-Sulaiman, though, spruces things up considerably.
Krrish was also a very poor film and it went on to become such a monster hit. Krrish 3 should follow suit and make more than three times the money. Besides distributing Krrish bands, they’ve already built a huge Krrish statue in the film. Yes, it’s a bit like the king’s statue in Shelley’s verse and the one in Hirak Rajar Deshe. If you know what I mean.
Koi... mil gaya vs Krrish vs Krrish 3
India’s only home-grown superhero franchise — the sequel to Ra.One is still simmering in Shah Rukh’s head — the Krrish films have always promised cheesy fun. If Koi… Mil Gaya, the first film in the franchise that released exactly a decade ago, gave us our desi version of E.T. (it was inspired by Satyajit Ray’s script for the aborted The Alien, whispers continue), then Krrish, that came three years later, gave the Indian viewer, who had long gaped at Spiderman and Batman, our own hero to root for. With Krrish 3, Rakesh Roshan and son Hrithik have taken the franchise many giant steps ahead, but have also missed out on elements and moments that defined the first two films.
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| Krrish |
Five reasons why Krrish 3 works better than Koi… Mil Gaya and Krrish...
1) Ups the sci-fi game: Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies VFX did it for his own Ra.One two autumns ago, but with Krrish 3 they have really upped their special effects game. Krrish 3 boasts the most stunning visual effects you would have ever seen in a Bolly film. Whether it is Krrish latching on to the malfunctioning front wheels of an aircraft to land it safely, swooping down on the streets of Mumbai to rescue a citizen in distress or blazing through building after building and jumping from roof to roof in pursuit of his enemy, the VFX is top-notch. Viewers bred on Holly sci-fi may scoff at Krrish 3, but for the Bolly lover in the audience, terms like ‘telekinesis’, ‘DNA fusion’ and ‘shape shifting’ hold some novelty.
2) The action: For the large part, the action set-pieces (Siu Tung Ching and Shyam Kaushal) will make your jaws drop. Our favourite? The hand-to-hand combat between Krrish and Kaal in the film’s penultimate moments. Our one question? Why wasn’t this film made in 3D?
3) The baddie: Arjun Rampal may have been adequately menacing in Ra.One, but Krrish 3 gives us a genuine supervillain in Kaal. Vivek Oberoi has fun playing the physically challenged anti-hero with a twisted mind — and so does the viewer, watching him. His army of mutants, led by Kangana’s Kaaya, may be a copy-paste of many a Holly supervillain — Sandman to Lizard — but they do keep you glued to your seat. We particularly liked Krrish’s simultaneous combat with three mutants when they attack his home.
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| Koi... Mil Gaya |
4) The message: With “Krrish ek soch hai” and “Hum sab mein ek Krrish hai,” Krrish 3 merges message with masala. Don’t miss the disclaimer from Krrish to a kid who he rescues: become Krrish, but don’t try to fly and jump around like him. Given how many children have killed or hurt themselves doing a Superman and Shaktiman, that’s sound advice.
5) A yummy Hrithik: Those long locks, that sculpted six pack, that angular jaw, those emerald eyes… who’s looking for a script when Hrithik is around?
Five reasons why Krrish 3 doesn’t work as much as Koi… Mil Gaya and Krrish...
1) Two Hrithiks: The first film gave us the child-man Rohit while Krrish gave us his superhero son, but bringing the two together in the third film just didn’t work for us, given how infuriatingly irritating the older Hrithik is. And no, he doesn’t look cute even when he’s swallowing spoonfuls of Bournvita.
2) Tacky sets: Koi… Mil Gaya was shot in Nainital while a large part of Krrish was filmed on location in Singapore. Most of Krrish 3 is shot on sets so tacky that you know that all the budget was spent on the VFX. Even more amateurishly executed is the in-film advertising — mostly of brands endorsed by Hrithik.
3) Music: Both Koi… Mil Gaya and Krrish had some hummable tracks — It’s magic to Dil na diya — but Rajesh Roshan seems to have slept right through the making of the Krrish 3 soundtrack.
4) Loss of innocence: The first two films had a certain innocence — the heartfelt exchanges between Rohit and Jadoo and Krishna’s naivety before he became Krrish — that’s missing here.
5) B for boredom: Koi… Mil Gaya and Krrish were action-packed from the get-go. Despite the exciting premise, Krrish 3 has long stretches where nothing really happens. Yawn!
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Three beautiful bolly stars. one film called krrish 3. Everyone puts on their a-game.Whose style do you like best? tell t2@abp.in t2@abp.in
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Priyanka and Hrithik kick-started the promo rounds on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Both stars went monotone. Priyanka looked hot in a studded cropped top and matching skirt from The Source, while Hrithik was dreamboat sexy in black. Swoon.
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If you are blessed with a face and a body like Hrithik Roshan’s, anything you’ll slip on will look gorgeous. That does not of course mean this beautiful man does not care how he dresses. We love how he almost always layers with vests, jackets and waistcoats. It funs up his statement tees so much. And the Wayfarers and Aviators? #ThriceDrool
