Kisna

Director: Subhash Ghai

Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Antonia Bernath, Isha Sharvani, Rajit Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Vivek Mushran, Yashpal Sharma, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Zarina Wahab, (Hrishitaa Bhatt, Sushmita Sen)

5/10

Let us say, there are two Subhash Ghais. The one who made taut, racy thrillers in the 70s (Kalicharan, Vishwanath) and grew bigger, if not better, through the 80s (Karz, Hero, Karma) and the early 90s (Saudagar, KhalNayak). And, the one thereafter, who works hard to blend and bend with the times making feel-good socials (Pardes, Taal) not exactly his forte.

Now, by writing-directing an inter-racial love story between a British bureaucrat?s daughter and a lowly stable boy set in the tumultuous backdrop of Partition, Ghai, perhaps, wanted to walk a new line. Looks more like he hit the end of the road. Kisna has the length (over three hours and 15 minutes) and the sweep (great production values, exquisite lensing, stirring compositions), but is totally devoid of dramatic depth.

Probably the most unwatchable film directed by Ghai ? though I confess, I haven?t seen Yaadein ? this is an antiseptic, vegetarian love story. All karma, little prem and no kama. Shorn of narrative urgency in its first 45 minutes, the film gathers a semblance of momentum only after heroine Katherine Beckett?s (Antonia Bernath) father is slaughtered by a band of extremists.

Kisna?s mother (Zarina Wahab, who looks much better than she ever did as a heroine) orders him (Vivek Oberoi) to take the surviving girl to safety. Their perilous journey from Devaprayag to Delhi ?on boat, astride horses and in an old-fashioned tempo trailer ? should have kept the audience glued to the screen. What one keeps looking at instead is the watch. Actors pop into the frame like popcorn and disappear like item girls. But not a single cameo ? neither Sushmita Sen?s straight-out-of-convent courtesan or Hrishitaa Bhatt?s L?Oreal gaon ki gori ? is worthy of memory.

In the title role of a warrior-poet, Vivek is earnest as ever. But it?s a thankless task being made to recite verse worse than Atal Bihari Vajpayee?s. As for elastic-bodied debutante, Isha Sharvani, she can be India?s best bet for gymnastics in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but, on current evidence, little else. Only pretty Antonia shines. Hers is probably the most memorable performance ever by a firang heroine in Bollywood.

Even then, Kisna is a no-show from Bollywood?s top showman of the 90s. Time to pop in a few creative Viagras, Mr Ghai.

Avijit Ghosh