Himmatwala is the official remake of the 1983 film of the same name , which was directed by directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and had Jeetendra and Sridevi in leading roles.
This 2013 action comedy film is directed by Sajid Khan and features Ajay Devgan and Tamannaah in the lead roles.
The story begins with Ravi (Ajay Devgn) shown as a street fighter who then learns about his widowed mother and sister who are shown to be in dire straits in his native village.
Ravi embarks on a tran to Ramnagar where he is greeted by a peculiar ticket collector cum station master who is shocked to note that he is the first passenger in so many years to get down at the station.
Ravi has come to avenge his father’s death and to get his father’s name cleared of the mud slinging done by the sarpanch (Head or mukhia) of the village – Sher Singh (Mahesh Manjrekar).
It so happens that the Sarpanch’s daughter Rekha (Tamannaah Bhatia) too has decided to come back to visit her dad at the same time of the year.
Rekha is a spoilt brat who walks around the village brandishing a whip and dress in the most “modern” of her dresses – shown in a mini skirt (so that was supposed to be a modern girl of the 80s.
Ravi and Rekha come face to face in challenging situations in the village events, where ultimately Ravi gets the better off of Rekha who feels insulted and then arranges to get Ravi in a tight situation with a caged tiger who is let off loose in the village.
There is chaos all around in the village and then it so happens that the tiger spots his prey in the boldly standing girl Rekha and approaches to attack her.
Ravi saves the village sarpanch’s daughter from the tiger, and then this spoilt brat falls in love with him. Now onwards the modern girl has decided to give up her mini skirts and fall back on our traditional salwar-kameez.
She also goes a step further helping Ravi in plotting her father’s downfall.
Then on, it is a typical Bollywood revenge saga sprinkled with Paresh Rawal’s comedy.
Ajay Devgn, is impressive as Ravi who confronts a tiger and then also manages to down 50 goons in a single fight sequence. He is fine in romantic scenes as well as in the comedy punches thrown around by him. The southern superstar Tamannaah looks cute and hot as well, and proudly displays her hourglass figure in the song and dance numbers with Ajay Devgn.
Mahesh Manjrekar as her daddy is fine enough. The character of Paresh Rawal is irritating at times, while Sonakshi Sinha brightens up the screen in her solo song presence.
It has a repetitive and mindless instances where the chamcha (assistant) of the local sarpanch calls the camera to close up and narrates his (senseless) wisecracks and then orders the camera (read the viewer) to fall back on his seat and watch rest of the senseless situations in the story.
It is worth watching for the songs “Naino Mein Sapna” and “Taki re Taki” which is rendered by singers Amit Kumar and Shreya Ghoshal. Also for those who enjoy the flashy era of 1980s having with a rural backdrop with a villain, his henchman and the 80s culture of India.
Having acquired the right to remake the original fun film (fun as prevalent in the 80s) , the director has missed the opportunity of improving on the basic concept and then to come up with some smart fun moments which would have been lapped up by the audience of present times.
Director Sajid Khan isn’t sure whether he wanted this Himmatwala to be a spoof or whether he wanted it to be a modern version of the original film.
Cast:
Ajay Devgan as Ravi
Tamannaah Bhatia as Rekha
Mahesh Manjrekar as Sher Singh (Sarpanch)
Paresh Rawal as Narayandas
Adhyayan Suman as Shakti
Zarina Wahab as Savitri (Ravi’s mother)
Leena Jumani as Padma (Ravi’s sister)
Dheer Charan Srivastav as Ravi’s father
Asrani as Station Master / Ticket Collector
Special appearances: Ritesh Deshmukh as the real Ravi
Chunky Pandey as Michael Jaikishan
Sonakshi Sinha in item-number Thank God It’s Friday
Appearances in item number – Amruta Khanvilkar, Surveen Chawla, Mona Tripha, Sayantani Ghosh, Rinku Ghosh
Credits:
Banner: Pooja Entertainment
Distributed by UTV Motion Pictures
Directed by Sajid Khan
Produced by Vashu Bhagnani, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Co Producer – Zia Khan
Written by Sajid Khan
Story / Screenplay by Sajid Khan
Music by Sajid-Wajid
Cinematography Manoj Soni
Editing by Nitin Rokade
Background Music – Sandeep Shirodkar
Choreographers – Chinni Prakash, Ganesh Acharya, Farah Khan
Costume Designers – Manish Malhotra, Navin Shetty, Arindam Roy, Rick Roy
Himmatwala – movie review