Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey

        **   2/5 

starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sikander Kher. directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. written by Ashutosh Gowariker and Vijay Maurya. not rated. running time: 3hrs.

After making one of Bollywood’s most expensive films “Jodhaa Akbar’,  Ashutosh Gowariker  returns with “Khelein Hum Jee  Jaan Sey”.  A story based on the 1930s Chittagong raids that started a revolution and eventually paved the way for India’s Independence from the British Rule. It seems like Gowariker spent all his energy, money and creativity in ‘Jodha Akbar’ and whatever funds he had left went into the making of this mediocre fare. I must say knowing the director’s previous work, I was very disappointed with this film. Apart from Abhishek Bachchan, who plays the hero  Surjya Sen and couple of other unknown supporting players the acting is mediocre and I didn’t care for much of the characters or what happened to them. One thing I keep seeing in Bollywood cinema is the lack of subtlety, everything is explained in detail and over  3 hours it gets very boring. I know Gowariker is one of the best directors in Bollywood and I can let this pass, but his lack of passion and creativity really showed in this film.  Hopefully he will redeem himself with his next film based on the life of Siddhartha.  I gave this film two stars, one for the last ten minutes of the film. It’s inspiring and emotionally charged but it does not make up for the other two and a half hours of torture that preceded it.  The second star is for Abhishek’s performance. He really carries his characters inner turmoil and passion throughout the film. There is no question that the story is inspiring and worth telling, but he missed his mark this time. Gowariker could have just made a 90 min documentary and educated us. Skip this film and  If you do end up seeing this, stay for the credits its worth waiting an extra two minutes, after all you just sat through 3 hours of passion-less film making.   If you’re really feeling patriotic then just pop in a DVD of his Oscar nominated film ‘Lagaan’. In fact I am going to go do that right now, to remind myself of how good of a film maker Gowariker really is.