After a good time at the movies last year (one of the three releases crossing 100 crore as well), Arjun Kapoor seems to have picked ‘Tevar’ to have a blast while he gets to bash a horde of baddies. As he puts it in a song here- “Main toh Superman, Salman ka fan” and later describes himself to his friends as a mix of Salman, Rambo and Terminator; while these larger-than-life roles in mindless loud action potboilers work for Salman or for that matter Akshay Kumar or even Ajay Devgan, it doesn’t necessarily have to work for the younger lot.
Producer Dad Boney Kapoor along with Sanjay Kapoor cast Arjun for the first time and in a Telegu remake ‘Okkadu’ though I thought this was a lot similar to a nightmare I watched. Yes. ‘Tevar’ is a much better version of Prabhu Deva’s ‘R… Rajkumar’. And both were graced by none other than Sonakshi Sinha by her presence. Ahh… let’s not get into her choice of movies and roles again.
Agra local boy Pintu (Arjun Kapoor) has a penchant for picking fights with wrong-doers. It is probably the only thing he does when he isn’t playing Kabaddi. Not too far away in Mathura, Gajendra Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) falls for college student Radhika (Sonakshi Sinha). He is the evil brother to the Home Minister of the State and knows no mercy while killing people. But he finds himself wooing Radhika desperately till both she and her brother reject his marriage proposal. It doesn’t take him much time to slash the brother’s wrist and just when Gajendra thinks he can forcibly marry the girl of his dreams (dirty ones… I suppose.), Pintu bangs his head too hard out of nowhere. In Mathura for a wedding, Pintu comes to know later whom he dealt with; but by then he has become Radhika’s saviour and like a good hero, he keeps protecting her till the last reel. They fall in love. Pintu and Gajendra fight. The villain dies. Okay… there is an item number too (Shruti Haasan).
I have often wondered why is there a need to remake a film which itself had a lousy plot. Probably, the success is assumed to be replicated and for a larger audience. Most of the times, it hits the bull’s eye. Debutante Director Amit Sharma shoots ‘Tevar’ in small towns of the country and captures the essence of it quite well. The target audience in these centres will surely relate to the characters and proceedings or say, the lingo. But ‘Tevar’ begins on a very average note and remains the same till the last reel. You have watched it all innumerable times. If a bigger and more established star would be here, the masses would make it a blockbuster (crore clubs seem to be increasing) but Arjun Kapoor isn’t yet a big draw at the Box Office. ‘2 States’ worked more because it was a faithful book adaptation. At two hours and forty minutes, ‘Tevar’ tests your patience quite too often. Even the action is just okay though filmed well. Music (Sajid-Wajid) isn’t really poor.
Arjun Kapoor has a good screen presence and the street-smart small town boy act comes naturally to him since his very first debut film. Like in ‘Gunday’, he gets to do some action here and he is comfortable in it. It’s a good showcase for him; how one wishes the movie would have been entertaining enough. Sonakshi Sinha doesn’t surprise! It’s the kind of movie and role she seems to love choosing. She does what she does in other movies. Manoj Bajpayee is an actor par excellence and it’s a pity he has to choose roles he shouldn’t. So even in a caricaturish bad act role, he is still the best thing about ‘Tevar’. Raj Babbar leaves a mark as his rowdy son’s police dad. Deepti Naval is wasted. The supporting cast is okay. And there are a lot of hideous looking goons.
Watch it or not: Wait for it to be premiered on TV. It’s the perfect film to be watched on the idiot box.
At the Box-Office: Will do average business over the weekend and end up as a flop. Business in small towns will be better.
My Verdict
2
This isn’t ‘Tevar’-irrible… could tolerate it- ‘Tevar’-rable!
