"Let's Bring Our Heroes 91福利社", thunders the tagline of Deewaar, a Bollywood movie about a group of Indian soldiers being held prisoner in Pakistan following the 1971 war. Sacrificed by the politicians in India, Major Kaul (the formidable Amitabh Bachchan) and his soldiers have been abandoned to their fate. But before you can say "Chuck Norris", Kaul's son Gaurav (Akshaye Khanna) transforms himself into a one man Delta Force and sneaks into Pakistan with nothing more than a Nike rucksack to free the ragged POWs.
While Rambo would have had this lot home in less than 90 minutes, director Milan Luthria (Chori Chori) takes considerably longer as a subplot involving a young Pakistani girl (Amrita Rao, last seen in Main Hoon Na) and a couple of song and dance numbers pad out the frantic plot.
"ISN'T HALF THE RUSH IT THINKS IT IS"
Overlong, overblown, and overly convinced that the sight of people randomly firing AK-47s makes a great action movie, Deewaar isn't half the adrenalin rush it thinks it is. Gaurav cuts a bloody swathe through Pakistan, grappling with Alsatian guard dogs, slashing enemy throats, and infiltrating military buildings in his effort to find out where his dad is being held. Meanwhile, the Major's seen The Great Escape enough times to know that the best way over the wire is to dig under it and distribute the dirt down his trouser legs.
You can't help but feel sorry for the lovely Amrita Rao, who barely gets a look in amidst all the rampant testosterone here. At least she snags the film's best musical number - a seductive song and dance routine that's far more enticing than all the endless scenes of back-slapping bonding and gruff macho growling about death and honour put together.
Bollywood aficionados take note: despite sharing the same title and lead actor with Deewaar (1975), there's no other link between the two films.
In Hindi with English subtitles.
Deewaar (2004)
