Waqt

Waqt seems like a relic of the 80s or an even earlier decade. A leftover from the time when sentiments and emotions ruled the box-office and a tearjerker was the best bet at the box-office. It is a sobfest where the characters are clichéd and their behavior, over-the-top. It attacks your tear ducts in a crass and obvious manner and is annoying precisely for that reason.

Akshay Kumar plays the irresponsible son who is trying to become an actor and leans on his dad for everything. Amitabh Bachan, his dad, pampers him, bowing down to his every wish. One fine day Amitabh decides that Akshay must learn to stand on his own legs and drives him(and his pregnant wife Priyanka Chopra) out of the house penniless. Akshay is naturally miffed but Amitabh has his own reasons for hastening Akshay’s journey on the road to independence and responsibility.

It is clear that subtlety is not a word the director is familiar with. Be it Akshay’s irresponsibility, Amitabh’s pampering or Priyanka’s support, every emotion and feeling is hammered in several times over. The characters’ behaviors too are always one of two extremes and there is no concept of ‘middle ground’. Amitabh either lets Akshay trample all over him or berates him with words that the typical villainous stepmom would be proud to utter. I can't point out even one scene where the father-son relationship seemed real. The film turns almost unbearably sentimental towards the end as characters realize the truth, repent and reconcile, all in a very predictable manner.

The comedy in the movie is quite repetitive but the actors manage to carry it off. Not many can display exasperation quite as well as Boman Irani(the college principal in Munnabhai MBBS) and he has the chance to be exasperated a lot here by Rajpal Yadav, the dimwitted servant. Irani’s one-upmanship comments and Amitabh’s visible irritation at them are also quite funny. Amitabh and Akshay gamely try not to overact but the cinematic situations and emotional script make it seem like they are. The actress playing Amitabh's wife comes off well with an understated but solid performance.

My primary reason for seeing this movie was the now-defunct rumor that the movie was going to be remade in Tamil with Rajni playing Amitabh’s role. I was curious if there was any way Amitabh's role can be tailored to suit Rajnikanth and the answer is a big NO. Rajni fans can heave a big sigh of relief that this particular rumor is no longer true!