Zinda

"Zinda hoon main....." is what the average moviegoer hums with relief while walking out from cinema halls showing the latest Sunjay Dutt starer directed by the master of "Hollywood-inspired" bollywood movies,Sunjay Gupta.But this time,the word is out that he has looked up to a korean movie titled "oldboy" for "inspiration".I haven't seen the original(unlike in the case of 'sarkar' or 'musafir') and eventually missed the chance for inevitable comparison.From the promos thrown out through TV i had expected an out and out thriller only to find out that i had to sit through the first twenty minutes watching a helpless Dutt holed up in a dark and dingy room(yes,ever since bollywood learned to adjust the tone of a frame there's no dearth for dark shades in the movies).As one wonders whether this is a low budget movie shot entirely inside a room supposed to be in bangkok,the hero walks out in pursuit of his captors later to be armed with a hammer with which he chops several nameless characters(once again,there are only five or six characters who has names).Several body doubles(or dead-body doubles maybe) are used as skins are cut,teeth are pulled out and wounds are stitched without much conviction.
This isn't to say that its a bad movie.Like many of the new-age Bollywood movies 'zinda' does not have any song and dance sequences shot in Switzerland or the maa-beta,insaaf,farz,khaandaan etc, stuff which used to be the essential ingredients of an Indian movie.What seems to be lacking is a convincing motive behind the actions of the suave bad guy John Abraham.
Anyhow,the best part of watching this movie at Sridar theater at Cochin came during the interval in the form of a trailer of the much awaited movie of the year "rang de basanti".Watch this space for more as Aamir Khan,the true individualist of Indian cinema, soars in the skies in an attempt to touch a Mig-21.