Bardaasht   Producer: Pooja Galani Director: E. Niwas Starring: Bobby Deol, Lara Dutta, Rahul Dev, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tara Sharma, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Ganesh Yadav, Virendra Saxena, and Shivaji Satam. Music: Himesh Reshammiya Lyrics: Sameer Genre: Action Recommended Audience: General Approximate Running Time: 2 Hrs 30 Mins Film Released on: 23 April 2004 Reviewed by: Aniket Joshi  - Rating: 7.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review

It often happens that when you watch a film with low expectations you are slightly surprised at how it exceeds them considerably. Such is the case with E. Niwas´ Bardaasht. Though the film is certainly far away from what can be termed as great cinema, it still manages to keep the viewer´s interest alive for two and a half hours, which in itself is an accomplishment in today´s Hindi film world. What works in favor of Bardaasht is that it moves on a single track and doesn´t have any unnecessary subplots or characters.

The story of the film is quite similar to Ghayal, which coincidentally was a breakthrough film for Bobby Deol´s older brother Sunny Deol. Aditya Shrivastav (Bobby Deol) is an ex army officer who runs a travel agency. Aditya´s only aim is to see that his younger brother, Anuj (Ritesh Deshmukh), becomes a successful person in life and doesn´t go astray. Anuj however doesn´t take life too seriously and is always upto mischief. Anuj gets caught stealing exam papers from his college and that angers Aditya who scolds Anuj. An irritated Anuj leaves home and doesn´t return. The next day, a worried Aditya tries to learn the whereabouts of his younger brother. Aditya files a missing person´s report with the police and eventually learns that Anuj was shot dead in a police encounter, with possession of narcotics. Aditya finds it hard to accept that his own flesh and blood could be involved in drug peddling. Aditya sets out on his own investigation to find the real cause of his brother’s death.

E. Niwas is able to hold the film together since he chooses to move the film on a single track. Quite a few sequences are well shot and make an impact such as the scene where Bobby goes to file the complaint for the first time and again when he goes to the police station in the second half. However, Vikram Bhatt (story/screenplay) shows his true colors of being a copycat as the entire climax is lifted from The Negotiator (Samuel L. Jackson & Kevin Spacey). Also, Anuj is shown as being a careless/mischief causing youngster in the beginning but in the second half his character is made out to be an "intelligent and extremely bright student". Nonetheless, the film still manages to redeem itself thanks to Bobby Deol.

It´s after a long time that Bobby Deol has got a chance to show his acting skills and he takes full advantage of the opportunity. His performance is proof that over the years he´s become a seasoned performer, and given a decent script and director, he too can deliver the goods. Lara Dutta as Payal, Aditya´s lover, doesn´t have a lengthy role but looks amazing and performs her part well. She handles her court scenes in the second half with good confidence. The trio of villains, Rahul Dev, Vishwajeet Pradhan, and Ganesh Yadav all do justice to their parts without going overboard. Tara Sharma is thankfully not irritating as she was in Masti, and her vocal quality is much better! Technically the film is fine. However, Bollywood action directors really need to get over the Matrix hangover, it´s getting really boring now!

It’s good to see that E. Niwas is a director who learns from his mistakes (Dum), however, he needs to get back to the form that he showed with his debut film, Shool. Bardaasht is a decent effort and a must see for Bobby Deol fans.