KRRISH 3 - Movie Review

As much as this film belongs to Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi, Krrish 3 belongs to the entire team of Red Chillies, Pixion and to the genius of Rakesh Roshan! I do not want to draw comparisons with Hollywood for there is simply no common base to compare.

That does not imply that the Hollywood superhero films have always been exceptional! Krrish3 is an Indian superhero film and I request the audience to watch it with the Indian sensibilities, the culture that you've been born and brought up in and trust me it would make for an interesting watch. 

For any commercial film to achieve the kind of commercial success it desires, there needs to be a story that is equally powerful. And who knows the rules of commercial film making better than Mr. Rakesh Roshan? There is ample logic, just the right amount of negativity, lots of emotional appeal and family values and great scope for entertainment.

It would be unfair to expect the kind of maturity that would probably be seen in The Dark Knight for Krrish is only our second attempt at making a superhero film. Furthermore you do not expect the sensibilities of a Nolan film finding audience in the heartlands of India. 

Another thing that is disappointing is the hypocritical nature of the audiences. Lootera gets panned despite being an extremely well crafted film, Grand Masti crosses 100 crores, War Chodd Na Yar does not even get an audience and Aashiqi2 goes on to become the most profitable film of the year.

Dabangg experienced the kind of success purely due to the entertaining story. And we all know what a pathetic film Dabangg2 was. Yes it was also a successful film but the goodwill that a film desires was earned by the predecessor. The difference? Story and characterization. 

Rakesh Roshan develops the characters skilfully and gives them a solid base to build their performances on. The story has a very Indian feel to it. Instances are cited from epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata, an extremely emotional father-son bond is established and thus despite being a sci-fi film, it touches your heart.

Krrish 3 would not have been a film of this stature without ample support from the vfx and the visual team. Fantastic work done by Red Chillies and Pixion. The visuals are excellent and never seen before on Indian celluloid. There are scenes which will send a chill down your spine.

There are little bit niggles here and there but what lets the mind boggling effort by the graphic and the visual team down is the patchy production design. 

In-film advertising is a big turn off and in Krrish3 there is enough of it to make you feel irritated. The unimaginative set up and the constant in-film ads surely were great barriers in the path to entertainment. Let alone being creatively placed, the ads were ridiculously placed and seemed kiddish.

IMC sounds good only when you have to read about it in a Kotler, cinema is probably the wrong place.

Music is another area where this film has been excessively criticized. And rightly so. The songs are highly unimaginative, the lyrics are amateurish and the music is uninspiring. Could the film have done away with the music totally? YES! It was simply not required. But what marginally saves this fault is the wonderful background score by Salim-Sulaiman. Probably their best work. 

When it comes to performances, Priyanka Chopra is forgettable in the role of Priya Mehra simply because there wasn't much to do for her.

Kangana Ranaut gets her accent and diction right and is convincing in the role of Kaya, Kaal's most trusted maan-var. She delivers an excellent performance.

Vivek Oberoi as KAAL is as menacing as it can get. He has redefined the role of a super-villain. He looks terrifying and performs with superb finesse. Yes I would accuse some of his portions to be blatantly plagiarized from the Hollywood flicks.

WANTED, ROWDY RATHORE, BOL BACHCHAN, GHAJINI, BODYGUARD etc etc were all remakes of South Indian films or creatively copied from yesteryear's blockbusters but the audience lapped them up with great comfort. Nobody complained. So you should not when certain bits resemble those seen in Tron or X-Men.

That is to say that even Pacific Rim was a lift from the Transformers series.

Nonetheless, VIVEK performs way better than what had been written for him. It was refreshing to see him perform for the eyes who are now accustomed to seeing Prakash Raj as the bad guy in almost every film. 

                                 

Hrithik Roshan is the soul of Krrish 3! He plays a triple role with much ease and certainty. He is incredible as Rohit, lovable as Krishna and your hope as Krrish. He pulls off a tough task with such ease that you feel he has just breezed through his role. In Hrithik we have our own superhero. One look at him as Krrish and you somehow know that he could be the only superhero of our times. (Abhishek Bachchan tried his hand with Drona but failed miserably, SRK tried Ra1 and I better not get into the details :P)

As much as Krrish 3 is about the Good overpowering the Evil, it is also about an idea that speaks of a Krrish within all of us. What a novel thought! Rakesh Roshan has directed this fantasy tale to the best of his ability and be ready to get surprised. There are enough twists to keep you hooked. I would further want to add that Krrish makes you feel very homely, much attached and very familiar to the proceedings as if almost requesting you to join forces with Krrish to defeat Kaal. 

The kids in my auditorium were clapping, the elderly audience was happy with the values that the film promoted and as a viewer, everyone felt proud to see an Indian film soar to such heights that had been largely unimaginable.

It is a right step to open up the sci-fi genre in India. Krrish 3 is perfect as a film that you would want to watch with your family during this festive time. 

To be really frank, Krrish 3 fails at certain levels largely due the production design and music but it would have been appreciated had Sr. Roshan done away with the scenes that have "inspired" certain bits of the movie. Keep this aside and you are in for a treat!

(ET, which seems to have been the source for Koi Mil Gaya was in fact a rip off of a series of drawings by Satyajit Ray. Where were the talks of originality then? Food for Thought.)

One has to salute the vision and guts of Rakesh Roshan. The floodgates have now opened. Sci-fi is now a more easily approachable genre and I repeat, it is useless to draw comparisons. Go and experience grandeur. Go and experience the brilliance of Indian animators. Go and be amazed at the scale which the movie belongs to but to be honest, Go and experience the Krrish within you.

Krrish 3 is a DIWALI DHAMAKA!! Commercial cinematic entertainment at its very best. 

**3.5 STARS**