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:

Ameesha Patel was offered the role of Nandini, but she had to turn it down due to other films that had conflicting shooting schedules.

Soundtrack:

Ankh Vich Chehra Pyar Da

this movie really sucks

I am not going to create and write my own comments here as it may take a looong time. So instead I choose to repost the comments posted on the IBN Live website which describes this stinker better than anything else.

................

The worst thing you can do to an actor is make him look like an ass. Which is why I think the three male leads of Apne are probably gunning for director Anil Sharma's blood.

Apne, which opens at cinemas this week, features yesteryear's star Dharmendra as a former world boxing champion who was banned from the sport after being falsely framed under doping charges.

Much to his disappointment, his elder son (played by Sunny Deol) decides not to take up the sport professionally, and opts instead for a more practical career.

Daddy dearest, who was hoping to realize his own unfulfilled ambitions through his elder son, is dismayed naturally, but turns his attention to his younger son, (played by Bobby Deol), who's only just recovered from a childhood injury, but seems happy nevertheless to enter the ring.

Under the able tutelage of his father, Beta Number Two fast becomes a boxing star and makes his way to the finals of an international championship in the US , but sadly that's just as far as he can make it, defeated as he is by reigning champion Luca Gracia who uses dishonourable means to beat him.

It is now the turn of Bade Bhaiyya to avenge his younger sibling's unfair defeat and near-death thrashing.

So Beta Number One spends a month in training, then enters the ring to take on his brother's nemesis.

That gesture alone, and his subsequent victory, redeems him in the eyes of his father who'd never really forgiven him in all these years.

Evidently it's the fact that Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol appear together for the first time on screen, that is the main highlight of Apne, but how you wish the family had chosen a better film to do the honours with.

To make a film for the sake of it, is one of the worst things you can do. A film should be made because you've got a great story to tell.

Sadly, this is no great story. In fact, it's a melodramatic piece that's about thirty years too late.

The worst thing about Apne is that it disguises itself as a sports film when actually the film abuses the very spirit of sportsmanship.

I'd have no problems if they'd projected boxing as a highly competitive sport. What they do, instead, is project the sport as some sort of a bloody battleground where rules are constantly flouted and all one fights for is the opponent's blood.

I was also disgusted by the sickening pleasure that's taken in making you uncomfortable watching those boxing scenes.

Every time a punch is thrown, you can hear the bones crunch, you can hear the ribs crack.

This is highly exploitative and it's done with the sole intention of making you turn away your face in disgust like you do when you're watching a gruesome horror film.

Like most recent films by Anil Sharma, Apne too is embarrassingly soppy. The director does everything he can to tug at your heartstrings and make you weep like his actors do.

But the only reason you're reduced to tears is because you can no longer handle the absurdity of the plot.

How Bobby Deol goes from a pop-star with a limp arm to a world boxing champ in just a few months is one of the marvels of modern medicine that doctors the world over may not have been able to solve, but director Anil Sharma seems to have got all figured out.

Some three hours later when the film finally ends, you feel like you've come out of battle. There's very little you can say about the performance of the three Deols, and that's a pity because they've been let down by such a terrible script.

I'm going to go with one out of five and a thumbs down for director Anil Sharma's Apne, it reeks of over-sentimentality and unnecessary rona-dhona.

Round one, the Deols defeat Luca Gracia. Coming up is round two -- the Deols versus Anil Sharma.