BROTHERS

"Brothers" a remake of  a full-proof Bollywood script that was made in Hollywood, a Gavin O'Connor's  2011 release "Warrior" starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgertan. 

A story about two estranged brothers who meet years later in a fighting ring only to get back together. Its a fight picture that tells you before the fight which brother will win due to the reasons provided and a evident one ( "Khiladi ko khel mein kaun hara sakta hai" ).  And yet you sit glued to watch them fight, the pain, punches and reconciliation. The structure of a rags-to-riches fight story with the classic Bollywood family feud. 

In the beginning only the film establishes them separately, we meet two brothers.  David (Akshay Kumar) is a Physics teacher, married to Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandez) with a daughter. Monty ( Siddharth Malhotra) is a street fighter. They have had a disturbed childhood due to their drunkard father Gary Fernandez (Jacky Shroff ) and death of their mother Maria(Shefali Shah) breaks the entire family and throws everyone apart. Now the circumstances of life, however, bring them independently to the same decision: If they want to live, they need to exercise their 'Right to Fight'.

Once all this is established, it is as certain as night follows day that David and Monty will meet in the ring for the championship. That accounts for the three climactic rounds, because each has to advance through a semifinal. What is intriguing is that you cant chose your favorite between both "Brothers". One has a very strong reason that drives him and the other has his piled up anger that makes path for him. Both have motives, they are long estranged after an unhappy split in childhood, and they hate each other. Yet those child hood memories are the reason that tells you about the love they have shared as kids. The writer had no favorite and neither will you be able to pick one 'character'.

Coming to characters:  Jackie Shroff as Gary comes on screen to play his strengths. The Ex- Fighter,a full time drunkard, an adulterer, and later as a man in pain who constantly curses himself for his deeds in the past that led to his broken family. There could have been no better choice than Mr. Shroff. He proves yet again why he has been the HERO of the masses for years now. On that note i would like to add that Tiger Shroff still has a long way to go ahead to gain that emotional insight into characters the way his father does. But as Ashutosh Rana in One scene of BROTHERS says, "Harr Beta Baap nahin hota! " 

Akshay Kumar as David and Siddharth Malhotra as Monty are opposites. David is a lean, mean teacher with strategies and Monty is a bulked up raw fighter. Akshay showcases the delicate balance of compassion and focus. He brings his own texture to the character that was played brilliantly by Joel Edgertan in the original. But i was happily shocked to see the 'Angry Young Man' Monty! His punches look and feel so real.His first official ring fight, a '2 second' bout is something not to be missed. He becomes an instant favorite as soon as he enters the ring and his fights give one all the right reasons for that.

Shefali Shah as Maria the wife of Gary and Mother to 'both' as usual sparkles. Yes, she cries most of the time while on screen, but with all the drama added to the already dramatic story by the Director there was not much she could do. But what she did was when she cried, she made sure her tears are believable and convincing. Not much to do for Jacquelin Fernandez but she did well for whatever little role she had.

One leg of the film is the family feud and other is Fighting. The fight scenes are choreographed and filmed with great energy. Mixed martial arts never received such a big platform in a Bollywood movie before. The entire stunts team was world class and specially assembled for the movie. This is a rare fight movie in which we don't want to see either fighter lose. That brings such complexity to the final showdown that hardly anything could top it — but the brotherhood wins in the end.

As far as music is concerned there is just one song worth listening to is "Sapna Jahan" and maybe cause its sung by Sonu Nigam and Neeti Mohan. Much noise about "Mera Naam Mary Hai" was made but that is a waste song and is simply forced in the movie in the name of item number! 

5 year olds will be seen dancing, "Mera naam Mary hai, Mary sau takka teri hai" God bless the souls of Kaifi Aazmi, Shailendra and Majrooh Sultanpuri, such brilliant lyrics none of them could have been able to write!

The movie's performances, which include Akshay's sympathetic but convincingly strong role as a family man David and Siddharth's feral, violent and angry Monty hide the flaws and everything that seems to go wrong with the movie. Post interval the movie takes pace and with every fight interest develops. Nothing in the movie seems rote or contrived may be a little hyper with emotions but no where less. And as the movie finally reaches to its end, to what happens in that ring between the two, it becomes quite hard to watch the violence that is required for MMA, its all undeniably compelling. The sheer passion that both show and the emotional tussle brilliantly portrayed by Akshay shows his maturity as an actor. 

BROTHERS has several loopholes but none of them is big enough to let one escape out of it. 

P.S: Watch only if you can keep WARRIOR out of your head. DO NOT COMPARE THIS ONE.