Aankhen (2002)

Masterful Movie

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

When Vijay Singh Rajput, a quirky, honest and extremely strict bank manager finds one of his employees trying to con a customer, he completely loses his temper and brutally beats him. As a result he is fired from his job. A broken and angry Rajput, who has given all his life to this bank, is decisive to take revenge, and what can be a better way to take revenge if not rob the bank itself? His plan is further progressed when he meets Neha, a teacher at a blind school. Rajput decides to use Neha to fulfill his plan, and he kidnaps her young brother to blackmail her. He then finds the ultimate team of three blind men: Vishwas, Arjun and Ilias. What happens next is what forms the film's suspense.That's the basic story of Aankhen, a highly enjoyable and twisted thriller which is quite cleverly scripted. The film's concept is rather unusual for Hindi movies, and even though the story is hard to believe, the film is captivating and is generally well developed and convincingly made. Aspects that contribute to it include the great cinematography, the effective editing, the witty dialogues, and the unpredictable proceedings. The film is not without its flaws, and at times it really lacks depth and focus. The character of Rajput is particularly faulty in this regard. Towards the end, after the robbery scene everyone was much awaiting happens, the film loses its balance, and the ending is quite disappointing.Aankhen is well acted, and of course Amitabh Bachchan excels in his negative role which allows him to have fun with his character's inexplicable nature. Akshay Kumar is very good as the sensible and intelligent Vishwas, and Arjun Rampal is well cast as the kindhearted Arjun. The film, however, has two actors who utterly steal the show, and they are Sushmita Sen and Paresh Rawal. Sen is outstanding as the tormented and vulnerable Neha, and Rawal is also superb in a wonderful comic role which is both funny and touching. What I liked about the film is that every character was given a story of its own, thus making easy to understand their motives to do what they did.In a few words, Aankhen is very good Hindi entertainment, and in spite of its flaws manages to be a good watch with family and friends.

this movie is indeed a movie that isn't quite a regular bollywood fare. It is a very well made movie with EXCELLENT performances from each of the cast.the only place the movie lacked was in certain applications of scenes where much more care was needed,....also where in the world does a bank have a skateboard left in the middle of its hall?.....but apart from few glitches and certain lapses that occurred to indianize the movie.....the rest was impressively done. the previous reviewer certainly was out of his mind when he said that making top stories and screenplays was beyond bollywood writes/directors......bollywood has churned out the best of the movies ......its just that the western audience cannot connect to certain things which they don't see in their society.our dear friend seems to childishly adore their out of the world,out of the mind movies. anyways, AANKHEN has been inspired by an English movie but still has its original values....specially the drama scenes where the 3 protagonists connect with each other. This movie has been highly underrated,and deserves a viewing at least to appreciate its plot and performances..... P.S:- Paresh rawal was at his very best and his performance is a major thing to watch in this movie.

That pretty much sums it up. As heist thrillers go, this is a pretty solid movie. The lengthy time actually works in its favor, because it allows the main characters to be fully fleshed out. Unless you're David Mamet, it's pretty hard to do a 90 minute heist movie and have you care about the people involved. From an American perspective, this movie is quite fresh, both in the concept and the lack of American stereotypes (there's no young punk, retired thief returning for one last score, or anything like that here.) Also, the tension level is excellently done. That said, there are some major credibility issues; you can buy something like "Heist" working, but "Aankhen" it's best to turn your brain off. This is more along the lines of something like "To Catch a Thief"; you don't buy it but the ride's so much fun you don't care.The directing by Vipul Shah definitely deserves kudos on the visual end and with the actors; the director uses both the foreground AND the background, unconcerned with what's in focus and what isn't (and in fact drops in a few jokes), and the framing is quite precise. Even when he's constrained by the necessity of suddenly making a music video, he does his best. The acting isn't perfect, but the actors are convincing in their handicapped and Amitabh Bachchan comes off as one cold-blooded hombre.This is definitely worth a look, a superior slice of dumb fun.

Aankhen, A Dangerous Game is a film worth watching just for the superb acting. Starring Amithabh Bachan, Akshay Kumar, Shushmita Sen, Arjun Rampal and Paresh Rawal is a great noteworthy cast. The Big B excels himself playing the shizophrenic bank manager, who after getting the sack from his beloved bank decides to seek revenge by carrying out a bank robbery. His performance is electrifying,(very DeNiro like) even when he is not talking his expressions tell it all. Aside from his acting the guy looks great too, not totally reinventing himself but the last shot of him leaves you thinking whether that was just Amithabh Bachan ( or Ali G)Akshay Kumar as Vishwas performs great but mainly because his character is more developed than that of Arjun Rampal. Akshay plays one of the blind men with a a twist, he has a sixth sense. At first this seemed absurd but it provided a reason for the great scenes between Akshay and Amithabh Bachan so it could possibly be excused by the audience.Arjun's performance is somewhat overshadowed by the rest of the cast. His character Arjun provides the subtle love story developing with Shushmita Sen. Arjun looked great although it can be criticised that he and Akshay looked too good to be blind men, but the movie is very much in this century, where not every blind person is seen as poor, although Paresh was given that role for good measure. Paresh Rawal as Ilias gives an outstanding performance. In Aankhen he is given the opportunity to shine whereas in many of his past films, he is the same old villain or the joker who is only there to provide the laughs. Ok so the latter point may be true in this film too but here it is the relationship between the three blind men that give it its subtle humour, allowing the audience to relate to the characters. Shushmita Sen plays Neha the schoolteacher who is there to train the blind men. Not only does she look great on screen without the skimpy dresses but also her ability to carry out the role has to be her greatest performance so far. Although she does nothing outstanding in the movie that will leave you in awe of her, her acting throughout the whole film is consistent and you are left with no doubt of her brilliant performance. The script is great and deserves a round of applause, the debut from the director has proved that he is one to look out for. The climax to the film is thrilling and makes sure that everything comes out completely intact without any details left out. Although it has to be said that although the ending is different it does leave the viewer unsatisfied.The music is not upto scratch and could have been improved.Overall if you've watched Oceans Eleven this could be said to be the Hindi version. A must watch for any movie goer. If you want to see something different from Bollywood this is the one, hopefully more great story lines are to come abt, (heard Company is a good one to watch out for. This is one Game that should not be Missed!!!