A cop-out!

Ronjita Das

Filmmakers seem to think that the more violent a film, the more crowds it will attract.

And that's perhaps why director Akashdeep made only a handful of scenes devoid of violence.

So you have Lecherous Cop misbehaving with Angry Young Man's sister. Angry Young Man beats him up. The Cop's ego is more hurt than his body.

So he takes revenge by beating up Angry Young Man's loyal friends. Which leaves the two at loggerheads with each other.

The second half of the film deals with another problem.

Angry Young Man's sister, now newly married, and hubby die when their building collapses. Which leaves Angry Young Man seething for revenge against the builder and the main man behind all the mess.

Angry Young Man or Krishna Patil (Manoj Bajpai) spends the rest of the film fighting the evils of the 'system' and the men responsible for it.

Of course, he himself remains unscathed most of the time. Like when he was hung upside down at the police station and has his jaw smashed. One would think that after such a sound thrashing, his face would need stitches. But no.

Kavita Choudhary (Tabu), his love interest and his lawyer, thought it wiser to dab Dettol on his battered face (of course, it had ceased to look battered by then). Though one also wonders how good she is at her job, when she goes to court with a witness and no evidence at all.

The comedy in the film is uncalled for, and Johny Lever is totally wasted with the long-stale jokes about KBC's "Lock kiya jaye."

Sr Inspector Ajay Pandit (Om Puri), honest to a fault, too tries to fight the 'system', but fails. So he helps Krishna Patil in his quest for justice.

Inspector Godbole (Mukesh Tiwari) is an arrogant cop who has his own concept of 'police'. According to him, it means 'Power, Order, Liar, Income, Corrupt and Encounter'. Of course, he claims to have all these qualities.

Mamu (Irfan Khan) is the don. He is used to having his way always, with his cold calculating mind. But it seems really strange that a gangster like Mamu, who is the king of the underworld, should be locked up in jail with a common thief.

Anupam Kher (Krishna Patil's father), shown as a timid man throughout, suddenly springs a bold speech in the latter half of the film. Sheeba (Krishna's sister) has done her job adequately.

The music in the film is nothing to remember. Except for Teri yeh jawani, which had the audience screaming for more, the rest was mediocre. Anu Malik was obviously not at his best in his film.

It's time directors start encouraging other storylines. This story has been repeated a zillion times and has lost its charm. To make matters worse, Manoj Bajpai himself essayed a similar role in Shool.

So if you've seen Shool, you don't need to watch its replay in Ghaath.

CREDITS
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Tabu, Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Sheeba, Mukesh Tiwari, Irfan Khan, Makarand Deshpande, Tinnu Anand, Johny Lever
Raveena Tandon and Arshad Warsi (special appearance)
Director: Akashdeep
Producer: S Kumar Mohan
Music: Anu Malik
Lyrics: Sameer
Action: Ravi Dewan
Script: Neeraj Pathak
Cinematography: Surendra M Rao
Choreography: Saroj Khan, Rekha Prakash, Ganesh Acharya, Bhupinder