Rediff.com
 December 6, 2002 
 Home > Movies > Reviews   Feedback 
  Sections
  Box Office
Columns
Features
Interviews
List
Memories
Reviews
Short Takes
Slide Shows
Southern Spice
Specials
Search Rediff






  Fabulous Offers!

  CDs @ Rs. 90/-

  Laurel & Hardy
  - VCDs
  Rs. 125/- only..

  Tom & Jerry
 - VCDs: Rs. 125/-



 Secrets every
 mother should
 know



 Your Lipstick
 talks!



 Jeeyo, magar
 SHAAN se!


 Search the Internet
           Tips
 Sites: Actresses, Actors
E-Mail this report to a friend
Print this page Best Printed on  HP Laserjets



Karisma Kapoor
Phoney, predictable
Rishtey is awful

Priya Ganapati

The soul of every film is the relationship it focuses on.

Take a father ready to stake it all for his son, going to the extent of kidnapping his child because he wants to protect him. To what extent would such a man fight the odds? And what happens to the mother who is deprived of her child by the man she loves? To what extent would she go to get her child back?

These questions have been explored before in some films that are sensitive, in others that are crass.

But what if all this is turned into one big gig of tasteless gags, melodrama and gore?

Rishtey, directed by Indra Kumar, plumbs the depths of creativity even by Bollywood standards.

It opens with Anil Kapoor (Suraj), a father who runs off with his new born child after a misunderstanding with wife Komal (Karisma Kapoor), setting his fiendish father-in-law (Amrish Puri) and his goons on him.

Riding a truck on a foggy morning Suraj lands in a nameless town where he struggles to bring up his child alone for seven years till his wife and evil father-in-law spot him. From there on, it is high theatrics and violence punctuated with some hip-swinging by Vyjayanti (Shilpa Shetty), a shapely fisherwoman in love with Suraj.

    Recent Stories
Fardeen on Khushi
A Lahore in Mumbai
Best Hollywood faces
Akki: The office & knight
Too many films, no money
On the sets of Plan
Om Puri is King Lear
Go West!
Rahul does what he feels
Saurabh Shukla debuts
The RACE awards
Kareena's feeling fine
    Don't Miss!
Anil Kapoor: Star of the
    week
Amitabh, 60: A special
Salman Controversy
    Recent Reviews
The Guru
Makdee
Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar
Harry Potter And The
    Chamber Of Secrets
Crimes Of Father Amaro

Rishtey is a melodrama from Indra Kumar, a director whose previous films include Dil, Beta, Raja and Mann. Dil, Beta and Raja had well-etched characterisations and some foot tapping music that glued the film together.

Anil Kapoor Kumar has slipped badly in his latest film. There are hardly any nuances to the relationships he portrays on screen -- no tender moments or hard hitting scenes either.

In Dil Kumar had Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit play lovers who rebel against the world and then are torn apart because of circumstances. With a tight script and powerful performances from his lead actors, Dil, despite its conventional story line, became a delight to watch.

With Beta, Kumar explored the relationship between an exploitative stepmother (Aruna Irani) and her son (Anil Kapoor). Again with a powerful cast, he played on the relationships between his characters to give the film its punch.

In Rishtey, while his cast may have performed well, they do not touch your heart.

As the father tending to his child, Anil Kapoor turns in a sensitive performance. As the hero romancing the much younger Karisma or playing a boxer for a living, he falters.

Karisma is in danger of getting typecast as the suspicious wife or the weeping mother who will fight for her child.

Karisma Kapoor While she may believe these are roles of strength because she has more to do compared to the average Hindi film heroine, extra screen time does not always mean better roles. In Rishtey she is still playing the stereotypical mother crying for her child, while the hero gets all the action. The only difference between her role and that of the screen moms of the seventies is that she looks gorgeous and can cry better --- which is what she seems to be doing through most of this movie.

Brothers Sanjeev-Darshan produce a mundane score that only prolongs the agony.

Rishtey is phony, predictable fare. Give it a miss.

Tell us what you think of this review

Your Views
 Name:

 E-mail address:

 Comments: (characters remaining)

 Your Views:



dot
Channels:

News:
Shopping:
Services:
Astrology | Auctions | Auto | Contests | E-cards | Food | Health | Home & Decor | Jobs | Lifestyle | Matrimonial
Money | Movies | Net Guide | Product Watch | Romance | Tech.Edu | Technology | Teenstation | Travel | Women
News | Cricket | Sports | NewsLinks
Shopping | Books | Music
Personal Homepages | Free Email | Free Messenger | Chat
dot
rediff.com
(c) 2002 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.