Aankhen (2002)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Captivating movie !

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I have just seen AANKHEN and I am surprised to say that this film is very good. It is based on a Gujarati play ANDHALO PAATO and is as good as the original. The story revolves around a mentally unstable Vijay Singh Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) who plots to rob the bank he has worked for so many years assiduously. To do so, he hires a teacher for the blind, Neha (Sushmita Sen). Vijay tells Neha to recruit three blind men, Vishwas (Akshay Kumar), Arjun (Arjun Rampal) and Ilias (Paresh Rawal). All said and done, the three men do rob the bank. But after the robbery, things go seriously haywire. There are murders, investigations, stolen loots etc. The credit for the entire film must go to the great, Amitabh Bachchan. He proves yet again why he is one of the versatile actors of Bollywood. He is one of the few actors in the industry who want to experiment with diverse roles. Just when Bachchan's fans thought that he couldn't get any better in terms of versatility, he strikes again with an out and out negative performance. He starts off as an honest and dedicated man who has devoted his life to the bank and then he displays his grey shades, that of a man obsessed with destroying the bank and its employees who kicked him out. Bachchan's character has shades of his character from his previous flick, AKS. Here, Bachchan goes one step ahead and delivers a knockout performance. Akshay Kumar is showing vast improvement as an actor. He has really improved on his acting skills and also got good dialogues to mouth.Arjun Rampal is a miscast for his role. He tries too hard to bring the right emotions on his face but fails. The modulation in his strong voice is surely missing which kind of ruins his overall effort as an actor. On the other hand, I think out of the 3 people, Paresh Rawal as Ilias stood out in every aspects. He is a natural with good comic skills and emoting abilities. He is definitely the best in this movie next to Bachchan.Sushmita Sen as Neha did a really nice job. She exhibits raw talent and emotes really well on screen. Her scenes with Bachchan are excellent.The rest of the cast lend able support. Aditya Panscholi is excellent as the cop and Bipasha Basu and Kashmira Shah look hot in their guest appearances in two songs. The songs are also good in this film, especially "phatella jeb" and "gustakhiyan". The film drags a little bit in the first half, but the second half explodes with really good performances from almost all of the star casts and the climax is simply unusual and brilliant. Overall, a brilliant movie with good performances, especially from the veteran Amitabh Bachchan and it's a must watch for all of his fans! I rate it 9/10.

I really enjoyed this. I had come to watch it not knowing what to expect. I had heard the part about all the characters being blind but not much else. What i discovered was an excellent bank heist thriller with great turns from Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar (who i normally don't like, in fact i thought he was very good in this).Even arjun rampal, who is a very dull screen personality, came across well. I always find he is better playing blind guys (see also VAADA) or villains (see Om Shanti Om). Sushmita Sen was great, she is very pretty, i wish the romance between her and arjun could have been developed a little more (or maybe they should do another film together as they make a nice pair)but it probably would have spolied the tone of Aankhen.Overall it was a film that really draws you in. The plot was good and the ending made me wish for a sequel!

i believe that Vipul Amrutlal shah has done a great job on this movie i watched it 2 maybe 3 times i loved it the only painful part about this movie is the sadness which usually happens around Paresh Rawal(Illias) but i guess writer Aatish Kapadia who adapted shobana desai's andhalo pato into a hard packing screenplay really makes up for the sadness or the inability to do anything which he surpasses in the end it is not like a good ending or a bad ending it's the ending the type of ending which shakes the story and gives ti a whole new turn after unbelievable chaos has occurred thumbs up to vipul amrutlal shah for a slick thriller

Just when you have given up on Hindi films after the last round of disastrous flicks like Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai, Durga and Vadh, there comes a film that restores your faith in Bollywood.Aankhen has a Hollywood-style bank robbery plot executed without compromising too much on the three must-haves of Hindi films --- songs, three hours and gaping holes in the plot.Vijay Singh Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) is the manager of Vilasrao Jefferson bank. He has chosen celibacy to prove his dedication to his work. But his pent-up frustrations burst out against his employees --- the watchman caught sleeping on the job, the cashier who tries to siphon off a few notes before he hands it over the counter.After he beats the living daylights out of the nincompoop sweaty cashier, Rajput is fired from the bank he has served for over 25 years.The official reason for his behaviour is that Rajput has schizophrenia, which explains why he is obsessed with taking revenge on his employers and co-workers --- all of which some of us fantasize about through our lives. The only difference is that Rajput goes a step further and does what others only dream of doing --- get even with the bosses.He decides to extract his revenge by robbing the bank and finds a cast of three blind men, Vishwas Prajapati (Akshay Kumar), Arjun Verma (Arjun Rampal) and Ilias (Paresh Rawal). Svelte teacher Neha Srivastav (Sushmita Sen) also carries out his bidding.While the three blind men are in it for the money, Neha plays along because Rajput has her younger brother captive. Using her skills as a teacher, Neha simulates the bank's interiors and teaches the trio the tricks to pull off the heist.After over 40 days of training in a simulated environment, the three blind men step into the bank to pull off the most novel bank robbery Bollywood has seen. How they do it forms the rest of the film.Aankhen defies all the rules of commercial Hindi cinema. The heroes are blind and are actually listen to a woman who seems more intelligent and capable than all of them put together.The plot doesn't lose sight of its goal -- the bank robbery -- and refuses to get side-tracked into mindless romance or songs. Conceived and executed like a taut Hollywood thriller, Aankhen is an impressive breakaway from the cliché ridden formula filmmaking that afflicts Bollywood.The credit for this belongs to debutant director Vipul Shah and his team. Shah is in completely in control of the film, whether it is in the dramatic sequences or developing the chemistry among the cast.The story of Aankhen has been adapted by writer Aatish Kapadia from his own Gujarati play, Andhla Pato (Blindman's Buff), first staged in 1992. Thanks to his experience with the theatre where taut scripts are necessary to hold the act together, Kapadia's screenplay is one of the film's strong points.The other is the cast and characterisation.As Vijay Singh Rajput, Amitabh Bachchan has turned in one of the finest performances of his career. He pulls off the most ludicrous situations with credibility and style. In a role that changes colours, starting as an upright bank officer morphing into a man obsessed with pulling off a bank robbery for revenge and finally turning into the villain who is prepared to go to any lengths to get his booty, Bachchan is glorious. He proves himself worth the sobriquet of the 'superstar' of Hindi cinema.Not to say that the others are overshadowed by his presence. As the blind man with that extra-sensory perception, Akshay Kumar holds his own in every scene. He brush-offs with Bachchan are dramatic and he brings a quiet intelligence and depth to his role. Every time he senses the silent Rajput hovering in the background, the screen crackles with electricity.The chemistry between him and Paresh Rawal is delightful. Akshay's thinking demeanor offsets Rawal's light-hearted quick-to-crack a joke countenance. With a role that is funny and irreverent, Rawal gathers the audience's laughs and proves his onscreen brilliance yet again.Arjun Rampal looks good, has a good body and a goodr screen presence but falls flat, partly due to poor characterisation. His is the only role that appears half-baked and Rampal only makes it worse.Sushmita Sen's role of Neha deserves an extra round of applause. Unlike most Hindi film heroines who come across as bimbettes and whose only aim is to get into the hero's way at the climax, Neha doesn't need a man to exist. She is intelligent and capable, even during the climax.However, the film has its fair share of flaws. The pace tends to sag intermittently and the actual robbery comes as an anti-climax to the tension built during the training. Besides, the robbery also appears terribly tame.The three-hour film tends to get you a little fidgety towards the end. Bipasha Basu and Kashmira Shah in 'item' numbers aggravate the cramped legs in an already stretched out film.But in all, Aankhen is different from your usual Hindi flick. It is a fast paced, slick thriller, a species rarely encountered in the annals of the Hindi film industry.