Apne (2007)

Director:

Anil Sharma

Writers:

Neeraj Pathak (screenplay)
Neeraj Pathak (story)

Release Date:

29 June 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Plot:

A disgraced ex-boxer attempts to make his two sons champion boxers in order to clear his name. One son agrees with this goal, but the other does not, causing family conflicts.

Plot Keywords:

Boxing | Boxer | Training | Melodrama | Punch

Cast

Dharmendra	...	Baldev Singh Choudhary
Sunny Deol	...	Angad B. Singh Choudhary
Bobby Deol	...	Karan B. Singh Choudhary
Shilpa Shetty	...	Simran A. Choudhary
Katrina Kaif	...	Nandini N. Sarabhai
Kiron Kher	...	Raavi B. Choudhary
Victor Banerjee	...	Ahsan Ali
Javed Sheikh	...	Roy
Aryan Vaid	...	Gaurav Ghera
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sanjeeb Banerjee	...	Bhullar's Son
Dolly Bindra
Jonnie Brown	...	Luca Gracia (as Jonnie Louis Brown)
Parvin Dabas	...	Saket
Kurush Deboo	...	Dr. Niranjan Sarabhai
Divya Dutta	...	Pooja B. Singh Choudhary
Rajendra Gupta	...	Bullar
Gurinder Makna
Erik Markus Schuetz	...	Boxer
Amrit Pal
Jonathan Samson	...	Bodyguard
Kuldeep Sharma
Manmeet Singh
Samar Jai Singh
Marvina Vinique	...	Luca's wife (as Marvina)

Also Known As:

Ours (India: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

173 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

Chandigarh, Punjab, India

Company:

Glamour Entertainments Pvt. Ltd.

Trivia:

The first film where Dharmendra and his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol appear in the same screen together. Dharmendra and Sunny have appeared together previously in Sunny (1984), Sultanat (1986) and Kshatriya (1993). The Deol brothers have also previously appeared together in Dillagi (1999) and 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002).

Soundtrack:

Ankh Vich Chehra Pyar Da

Boxing Melodrama

Normally I avoid Sunny Deol movies. I made the mistake of recently watching 'Fool and Final' (actually I'd forgotten that Deol was in it). The reason I watched Apne was Shilpa Shetty, Kiron Kher, Victor Bannerjee and Divya Dutta (all three have very small roles). With some alterations in the screenplay, better actors, a better director, better background score and a few more better things, 'Apne' could have been a worthwhile flick.

I'm going to be nice by calling it mediocre as Dharmendra had a lot of expectations from it and I'd feel mean by being really really honest. All this 'high-tech' effects were crap (e.g. the x-ray view, moving camera, slow motion and rib cracking garbage just made the film more tacky and gave it a pretentious 'appeal'). The appearance of the title track in the background echoing throughout the whole film is highly irritating. In fact none of the songs stand out (most of them are abysmal) thanks to Himesh Reshammiya.

Anil Sharma's direction is very poor which is not a surprise considering his last two flicks. Sunny Deol is much less annoying than his other flicks but hé still irritates. Ditto for Bobby Deol. Dharmendra gives a good performance as the stubborn and obsessed father. Bannerjee and Shetty make their presence felt in smaller roles. Katrina Kaif merely plays the standard bimbo doctor. Kirron Kher is good in some scenes and over the top in others.

The screenplay takes (or steals) a lot from 'Million Dollar Baby', 'Rocky' (can't remember which one) and 'Cinderella Man' among other boxing flicks. In spite of so many sources, 'Apne's screenplay is pretty messed up. You're better off rewatching 'Life in a Metro'.