Akayla

Akayla review :

A Dirty Harriysh type cop chasing down villainous twins who practically bump off his entire family and friends; Akayla saw legendary director Ramesh Sippy team up with Amitabh Bachchan once again after their successful run in Sholay (1975), Shaan (1980) and Shakti (1982). Unfortunately, the film didnt exactly set the box office on fire and settled in just about average category.

Bachchan played the alcoholic loner with his usual flair but he was constrained by Salim Khan's predictable plot which was stuck in the 70s. He got to romance two heroines - Amrita Singh and Meenakshi Seshadri - but lost Meenakshi to his bestie Jackie Shroff. Amrita had the better role of a bar dancer and I loved the scene where she makes Amitabh jealous just to make him confess his love.

Keith Stevenson was the main villain in a double role of Tony - Jojo, one a shrewd and cunning criminal while his younger bro is a lollypop sucking dimwit. Writer Salim had high hopes on his debutant villain but sadly, the audience didnt find Keith as menacing as Ramesh Sippy's Gabbar or Shakaal. Personally, I liked him in the scene where he goes to rape Amrita Singh in her apartment. Its a chilling moment!! Interestingly, Aamir Khan played a similar double role in the recent blockbuster Dhoom 3 (2013). Hmm!

As for the rest of the cast, Jackie Dada and Meenakshi were shortchanged by bumping them off ingloriously in first half. Worse was Aditya Panscholi who got just two scenes with Amitabh before his death.

Laxmikant Pyarelal's music score was strictly average but still, the 'Ram pyaari' song featuring a yellow Volkswagen Beetle driven by Amitabh became fairly popular.

Finally, Akayla was an out and out Amitabh Bachchan show and he didn't disappoint one bit. It was his final collaboration with Ramesh Sippy and released just before Diwali 1991 at Mumbai's Novelty cinema. Playing safe, Yash Chopra actually postponed his Lamhe by couple of weeks to avoid clash with this Ramesh Sippy- Amitabh Bachchan film. Such was their power!!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni