Famili-a!
By Vikas Mohan, MovieTalkies.com, 14 January 2006
2 / 5
Family is a tale of family relationships, where Amitabh Bachchan plays a powerful don, but someone who is very much a family man. He stays abroad as there are too many criminal cases against him. Sushant Singh plays his son and is his aide in his business of crime.
Amitabh’s wife, played by Shernaaz Patel refuses to live with him as she is against his ‘business,’ and lives in Mumbai with her daughter, daughter-in-law and grandson. Anjan Shrivastava is a middle class man who believes in family values. He has two sons, Akshay Kumar and Aryeman. Where Akshay plays the good son, Aryeman is the wayward one, someone who always gets into trouble along with his friends, but Akshay always comes to his rescue.
Once a gang war erupts, where Akshay gets caught in the crossfire and is accidentally killed by a bullet fired by Amitabh. Aryeman is out to take the revenge, and kill the guy behind Akshay’s death. But locating Amitabh is not an easy job, something that even the Government hasn’t managed so far. Aryeman and his gang of friends kidnap Amitabh’s family and keep them as hostages, as a net to trap Amitabh.
Production values of the film are very good and Ashok Mehta’s cinematography is excellent. Though the music of the film compliments the movie, there is no hit song.
But the real problem lies with the script, as it lacks novelty, and the pace too is slow, and the situations too look predictable.
Performance wise, Amitabh Bachchan is superb, and where Akshay Kumar is lively, Bhumika Chawla comes across as charming in her limited role. Debutant Aryeman too does his best to justify his challenging role, both in the action and emotional scenes. Sushant Singh, Shernaaz Patel, Anjan Shrivastava and Bharati Achrekar too have all done a good job. As the director, Rajkumar Santoshi again shows his grasp over the medium, but is let down by a poor script.