Movie Reviews

Deewangee

Producer: Nitin Manmohan
Director: Anees Bazmee
Starring: Ajay Devgan, Akshaye Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Seema
Biswas, Suhasini Mulay, Farida Jalal, Suresh Oberoi
Released on: October 25, 2002

SYNOPSIS - Raj Goyal (Akshaye Khanna) is a successsfful criminal lawyer with a dynamic personality and gift of the gab. Being a conscientious lawyer he remains fully committed to fighting for the innocent and bringing the culpable under the baton of law. He is not a very emotional person and does not get inclined towards women easily.

This trait, however, changes with the coming of a nubile girl Sargam (Urmila Matondakar) into his life. Sargam is a celebrity, a popular singer who has several hit albums under her belt.

Through Sargam, Raj comes to know of her childhood friend and mentor Tarang Bharadwaj (Ajay Devgan). Tarang is a talented musician with a brilliant mind. However he is a victim of circumstances. He was caught red handed at the scene of the murder of music magnet Ashwin Mehta (Vijendra Ghatge).

With no witnesses around, Tarang is the man suspected of the murder. The act implies a crime of extreme hate and means severe punishment for the culprit.

Sargam staunchly believes that Tarang has not committed a crime of such diabolical nature. She entreats Raj to plead Tarang's case in the court. Raj agrees.

After Raj comes to know of Tarang's version of the crime, he knows that the only way he can save him is by bringing the real culprit to book. But as he begins his investigations, Raj gets embroiled in a mystery that could lead to his own killing. Before he realizes it, he is being stalked by someone who doesn't want him to get at the truth. Someone, who would commit another murder to cover the previous one. (Apna Ka Choice)

All I've been hearing about are Hollywood remakes. There are nothing wrong with remakes at all but the problem that I am having is that every movie seems to be a remake. Another thing that bothers me is the people who did the song "Truth Hurts" got sued for copying Indian music which really bugs me since Bollywood is famous for their Hollywood remakes.

Here is another remake - Deewaangee = Primal Fear starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. Primal Fear is an awesome movie.......Edward Norton steals the show all the way. Of course in Bollywood, there always have to be a song/dance routine and use a heroine to cause tension in the movie too. I already knew the whole outcome of Deewaangee after realizing that Akshaye Khanna was the lawyer AKA Richard Gere in Deewaangee.

For those who have not seen Primal Fear or Deewaangee, let's just say that Primal Fear ends where the Intermission of Deewaangee starts. Primal Fear left everyone walking away either mad or confused while Deewaangee finishes the rest of the story for you.  It totally ripped from Primal Fear except adding Urmi in the movie for flavor.  I thought the second part dragged a bit because of the games Raj (Akshaye) and Taran (Ajay) played with each other.

Acting wise, I thought Akshaye Khanna was the best. He is making a great comeback after Dil Chanta especially with his performance in Humraaz too. I would like to see him win something this year...whether it's for Humraaz or Deewaangee. I always thought he was a good actor and good looking but something about his character in Deewaangee made me think he looked HOT!

Ajay is a great actor and very underrated. He also does a great job acting. His character is just like Edward Norton's in Primal Fear that I didn't think much of the movie. Ajay has great eye contact.

Urmi is beautiful in the movie. Some scenes she looked so young and innocent while others she looked older and mature. I think it's the makeup and clothing she had on. Urmi is also one of my fave actresses and a very underrated actress. I was just disappointed to see her do nothing but look beautiful, sing, and dance. In addition, all she did was cry because of her weak character. I know she can act but her role didn't require any acting.

Overall, the movie is very good. If you are a die hard Primal Fear fan, then you should avoid Deewaangee. Otherwise, the movie is not original but knowing that it finishes what Primal Fear ended will make someone watch the film.

My rating - 8 out of 10

NiCKi