Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A lower-middle class, Maharashtrian, honest police officer, encounter specialist to boot.
Risk
Director: Vishram Sawant
Cast: Vinod Khanna, Randeep Hooda, Tanushree Dutta
Rating: **
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A lower-middle class, Maharashtrian, honest police officer, encounter specialist to boot, crosses swords with the corrupt police commissioner, corrupt home minister and sundry gangsters.
He is framed and an enquiry committee set up to discredit him and all those he is associated with. He chooses an offbeat way out of his dilemma eventually succeeding in doing, out of the bounds of the law, what he couldn’t do within it.
Yes, Ab Tak Chhappan and many more B and not so B grade films have been made on the same subject. More’s the pity because audience fatigue with underworld and gangster stories is high and Vishram Sawant’s Risk, better than most, will get lost in the crowd.
Randeep Hooda is the police officer and if he impressed you in D and the one episode of Darna Zaroori Hai he will blow you away with Risk in which his character speaks volumes through his eyes, body language and understated demeanor. His raw sexuality is a huge turn-on. In contrast Vinod Khanna his arch nemesis, the gangster hidden away in Bangkok, who rules Mumbai through remote control, is bluff and over the top.
Randeep is the sort of cop dreaded by both sides of the gangster divide, Vinod Khanna (Khalid) and Zakir Hussain (Naidu). Both their men drop like flies everytime Randeep stages an encounter.
When Randeep gets too close for comfort and is on the point of arresting Khanna’s key political player in Mumbai, Seema Biswas, a counter encounter is staged and Randeep incriminated of murdering two innocents.
He is jailed as the inquiry progresses and when he is suddenly reinstated no one is quite sure who he owes allegiance to. In a series of smart moves he continues to deflect detection as he continues his killing spree with the gangsters.
Eventually when he kills Khanna’s brother, Yashpal Sharma, he manages to get the elusive gangster to Mumbai where he can be set up.
How he does that and what price he pays for doing so form the closing reels of the film and provide much of the edge of the seat thrills overriding a loose and repetitive second half.
Tanushree Dutta is the girl Randeep is in a relationship with, one neither of them understands, but she provides the few calm moments in his life. She has an interesting presence.
But the honours are undoubtedly Randeep Hooda’s whose mature understanding of the role gives lie to the fact that he is still very new to the business of acting. What he needs now is a role that will be watched by more people.
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