Movie review 'Tevar': Arjun Kapoor's kick and punch is weaved into a crappy narrative

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Manoj Bajpayee, Raj Babbar

Director: Amit Sharma

Stars: 2.5

You already know it is going to be a larger-than-life experience when Arjun Kapoor sings ‘Main toh Superman, Salman ka fan’. Walk into the theater expecting highly choreographed action sequences, chases and melodrama in debutant director Amit Sharma's ‘Tevar’. Produced by Boney Kapoor, the film is a Bollywood remake of Mahesh Babu's magnum opus ‘Okkadu’ which consequently made its way to Kollywood as ‘Ghilli’ and Tollywood as ‘Jor’.

‘Tevar’ follows Pintoo Shukla (Arjun Kapoor) and his heroic efforts to rescue Radhika Mishra (Sonakshi Sinha) from local goon Gajender Singh (Manoj Bajpayee). Gajendra has fallen irrevocably in love with Radhika and will go to any extent to marry her.

Arjun Kapoor as Pintoo the protector, does the macho act with aplomb but it calls to mind his debut film ‘Ishaqzaade’ where he was seen in the same action hero mode. Arjun Kapoor is slowly establishing himself as Bollywood’s favourite hoodlum who loves dodging trigger-happy goons and saving his lady love. Even as formulaic ‘angry young man’, Arjun is quite likeable. With the spotlight on him, Arjun Kapoor does full justice to to his role of a searing angry young man. The damsel-in-distress Sonakshi’s character Radhika is a classic case of Bollywood stereotyping women. Radhika helplessly waits around for her knight in shining armour aka Pintoo to come and save her. Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha’s chemistry might have become the talk of the town, but take note Arjun Kapoor at some point calls Sonakshi Sinha a watermelon in the movie.

Manoj Bajpayee's Gajender is the one to watch out for. Gajender cannot cope with rejection and this ensues the battle. Bajpayee gives us a slimy villain who is lovestruck and living in denial. When he proposes marriage to Radhika, his honesty will win you over. Gajender professes that he is a badmaash but even badmaashes are slaves in front of the missus and asks her to make him her slave. Gajendra’s emotional outburst will end up making you feel icky and creeped out.

‘Tevar’ also features a few veteran actors to perhaps make up for crappy narrative but does not use them to the film's advantage. Raj Babbar isn’t bad as Pintoo’s father and the snippy top cop. The graceful Deepti Naval is Arjun Kapoor’s mother but literally gets no role. Rajesh Sharma as Gajender’s brother also barely gets any screen space. Interestingly, Subrata Dutta, who plays Gajender’s sidekick Kakdi, essayed the role of the main villain in the Bengali remake ‘Jor’. Somewhere in the fights Shruti Haasan is spotted dancing in a special song. She adds the much needed glamour to the film but is soon forgotten amidst the fracas that ensues throughout the movie.

Set in Mathura and Agra, cinematographer Laxman Utekar scores big for peppering every frame with the rustic charm of Mathura and Agra. The local flavour is unmissable in scenes that show dusty bylanes dotted with structures inspired by Mughal architecture – every aspect has been touched upon carefully to give the canvas a real look and feel.

The high point of the film is it's memorable music. Let's Celebrate, Superman and Radha Nachegi composed by Sajid-Wajid add to the pace of the otherwise over-theatrical film. Shruti Hassan returns to sing the soulful 'Joganiyan' that is picturised on Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha and portrays a sliver of romance amidst all the mind boggling action.

Amit Sharma fails to establish ‘Tevar’ as not just another mindless South remakes that is being dished out in Bollywood. The predictability of narrative extends to the action sequences as well. By the end of the film, one can literally predict the next punch or kick in the highly stylized action sequences. Pintoo’s motivations to save Radhika are never established in the two hours forty minutes and what we are left with is a highly generic Johnny Bravo type hero and a villain who vows not to put his pants on till he finds the girl. Ofcourse 'Tevar' has every ingredient a Bollywood masala film requires but it is heavily marred by its predictability.