Cast:-Scott Adkin, Rhona Mitra, Robert Knepper

Producer:- Chris Lowenstein

 Rating:-Never watched this movie

You must have seen bad movies, very bad movies, worse movies and worst movies. But you might have not seen the movie that mock the earlier version of the movie. Well, in these category of movies include "Hard Target 2". Directed by Roel Reine. He has directed movies like Death Race 2, Drifter, 12 Rounds 2:Reloaded, etc. 

I don't know why the producer, director, crew members of HARD TARGET allowed the HARD TARGET 2 to be made. The original version was so surreal. It had the grace, the thrill, the enjoyment and above all, it entertained the audience. But the HARD TARGET 2 not only lack the above qualities, it is an illogical, poorly conceived and poor action movie. This movie is so illogical that I don't know whether I am watching a B Grade Bollywood movie or a Hollywood movie. Even a B Grade Bollywood movie has something to look forward in comparison to HARD TARGET 2. 

The plot of the movie is that the Wes Baylor killed his friend in a martial art competition. He traveled to Thailand to overcome the grief of killing his friend. There he met Aldrich (the main villain) who offered him some cash prize to fight. Wes Baylor agreed and he reached Myanmar jungle where he realized that some rich people have made him the target. He runs for his life. Ultimately Wes emerged victorious after murdering the hunters. 

The plot is filled with numerous weakness. The flaws can be listed as follows :-

1. How can a martial art fighter die in the ring while fighting his opponent? This needs serious explanation.

2. How the hero (Scott Adkins) end up in Thailand as a fighter? If he continues to to fight then he can still continue to fight in his homeland not in Thailand? Why are the Hollywood movies trying to depict Asia in the bad light?

3. Why do the rich people (read villains) wants to kill people? Are they insane or just murderer? I can't find logic in this.

4. Why Myanmar is shown in bad light by the movie?

and so on. 

Well, you need to know that making a movie is a hard and time consuming task. But that can't be excuse to make such a  worst than the worst movie to be released in the market. 

The film was supposed to be an action film. The fight sequences were poorly executed and shown except two revolving kick by Scott. There is  nothing spectacular in the movie. The gun fight scene and fight scene were choreographed hurriedly. It seemed that the action director was in a hurry to complete the sequence. 

I don't have nothing to say more than don't watch this movie even by mistake also. Lest, you will start to hate Scott Adkins for working in this movie.

A few years ago, Tamil Cinema was dishing out the worst movies in India.  There was absolutely no attempt made to show reality in any way, and it was quite common for the hero to be glorified as the man for all times. Each and every hero would bash up more than eighty bad boys at any point in time, and he would go around dancing with heroines who would be fit enough to be his daughters.  Rajnikant was and still is, the worst guilty hero in this respect. He had very successfully followed the MGR formula, and the leading lady of any movie would fall head in heals in love with him, the moment they saw him.  He would never chase any heroine, and would never show any emotion till the girl showed her love for him.

Even in movies like "Sivaji", which had several comic scenes where he would try to woo the leading lady, he was shown as the hero who would do no harm, and in one particular scene, would bash up more than one hundred bad boys, single-handed. The much larger than life personality of his, is there for all to see, and it is a big mystery as to how he has survived for such a long time, when age was easily seen on his face, in spite of all the make up.

This particular image trap of Rajnikant has inspired other heroes like Vijay and Ajith, both of whom, are also shown as larger-than-life heroes. So, Tamil Cinema is caught in a big spiral of masala movies and the all too familiar story lines.

However, some changes are now coming and, in a big way.

Just over fifteen months ago, there was this movie called "Kaaka Muttai", which was a very realistic account of how two small slum kids from a North Chennai slum, long to eat a plate of pizza, just once in their lives. Unfortunately, even when they earn the money to have the pizza, they are beaten by the security man, and an employee of the pizza outlet.  The scene goes viral, and becomes a big issue.

The mother of the two children cries out for help, and when the two children really get to eat the pizza, in the full glare of the media, they do not find it fascinating, and go back to their own ways of picking up small pieces of coal that get dropped from railway wagons and selling them for a small amount.

The stark realities of life, in a North Chennai slum, was brilliantly depicted.  The film went on to win international acclaim, and also won the National Award. 

The film woke up the entire Tamil movie goers to realities of life.  It brought to the center of all discussion, how Tamil films should be made.  There has since been a huge discussion in the print media about the need for Tamil cinema to be focused more on movies like Kaaka Muttai, and move away from the masala movies and the traditional stories.

The likes of Rajnikant, Vijay and Ajith,  suffer from an image trap of gigantic proportions.

There are quite a large number of movies where the stories have been different, and have been based on realism, and have avoided the masala trap, and this includes those of the aforesaid heroes as well.

For example, several years ago, that is, almost thirty years ago, Rajnikant acted in one of his best movies called "Mullum Malaram", which showed the real affection of the hero for his sister.  The sister was played by one Shoba, who was such a superbly talented actress.  She committed suicide for some unknown reason.  The movie brought out the different talent of Rajnikant.

However, since then he has acted in movies that simply took his image to a huge larger-than-life myth of all sorts.  This continues till today.  Ditto for the other two heroes.

However, there are several reasons why Tamil cinema should move out of this trap. 

Firstly, the fact is that movies like Kaaka Muttai, simply stir up the conscience of an entire State population.  It does make people think and makes them have some empathy for others. 

Secondly, when such movies reach the foreign shores, it is just as well that those abroad understand what life in Indian slums really is.  With all sound and fury about the emerging India, it will make such people look at India as a highly tolerant nation, and look at several aspects of life in India.  In fact, spirituality of the kind that is practiced in India, is now appreciated the world over. 

Thirdly, realistic movies also bring out the creativity in a huge number of directors and even producers.  Such movies get produced at a huge fraction of the cost of masala movies.  So, it does make economic sense too.

Fourthly, Tamil movies are now the second largest or the third largest number of movies produced in Indian languages, with Hindi leading the way.  So, producing creative movies will enhance the popularity and reach of Tamil cinema.

Fifthly, the huge number of movies that are different will certainly bring some new thinking among the Tamil population, more so, when it is at cross-roads, what with a huge melting point of political parties systematically robbing them of all wealth, and creating a record number of drunkards in society, who are only interested in the crumbs thrown around by the parties as freebies.  The creative movies will certainly make the Tamils think about the virtues of hard work, sincerity and honesty, as these values come out loud and clear through and in such movies.

So, the message is loud and clear.  We certainly need a push towards the best of creative movies like Kaaka Muttai in Tamil.  The number of such movies should not only increase substantially but increase at a good frequency as well.  Yes, the Government had announced tax breaks for Kaaka Muttai and one is sure will do so, for other similar movies.  This should motive our creative directors and producers even more.

It’s now very much well known that the recently released Hindi cinema Piku directed by Shoojit Sircar has touched every soul. I am also one of those touched souls. Though it’s the entire movie which did touch my soul, I firstly got hooked by its trailer. It instantly connected me with the movie and I felt somewhat nostalgic about the golden years spent with my ever loving father.

I literally craved to watch the movie and constantly nagged my hubby to book the tickets. Just a thought of going to the theatre was in itself an enthralling experience and finally when I finished watching it then I was speechless because of my heart’s boundless happiness. I had read rave reviews and even my loved ones conveyed me their appreciation for Piku after they watched it but my excitement of going to watch this movie was beyond my understanding. I was unable to assemble all the appropriate words to express my excitement. Maybe it was because I felt connected with the trailer of the movie so much that I was expecting my reel experience to mesmerise me by bringing back all the fond memories of my father.

I must say it did not disappoint me rather it would be perfect to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the film although my father was not very similar to Bhaskor Banerjee, the reel father, played by the stalwart Amitabh Bachchan. Interestingly, my father was very different from Piku’s father in many ways but there is one great similarity that’s regarding their bowel movement though my father had his very unique approach towards it. Sometimes his approach to the bowel difficulties made for a great hilarious time for the whole family. At times he was shouted at by my mother, siblings, other family members and obviously I am included too.

My father was an extraordinarily good human being, he performed his role as the chief of a joint family with ease and to had him as father was the most amazing experience in the lives of my sibling’s and mine. He was not a spoil sport and never ever demeaned any of his children neither in front of the family members nor before the outsiders. So, I can vouch that every child would love to have a father of his kind and would feel proud to address that person as ‘baba’ with respect. Oh! I forgot to mention about the relatives, neighbours, acquaintances, domestic help and even the cook who had admired his personality and paid respect at every point of time wholeheartedly.

Actually every child loves to grab an opportunity to express his/her gratitude for the parents and in doing so one forgets to talk about their not so gracious things. As of now I am doing the same thing by highlighting my father’s great qualities and not coming up with the unique stories behind his bowel movement. 

Hereby, I reveal that I still very clearly remember that my baba, as I addressed my father, used to visit toilet at least three to four times a day. The number of times had never decreased rather it increased when he went out for a few hours. In the meantime, I must say that I am sharing the story of those days of my father’s life when he was retired and I a grown up daughter. One particular attitude of his was that at 10:30 in the night he used to go to toilet. Sitting idle for some time was preferable than completing his mission toilet earlier than 10:30 PM and then catch a good night sleep. We poked him to go to toilet early and he used to see the watch and decide in favour (occasionally) or against our wish. In fact, we always laughed at him and commented sarcastically that what bowel pressure and 10:30 at night have in common. He never got angry but hardly listened to our persistent request. I must say he was adamant in this regard and never tried to understand why we pestered. He used to take his own sweet time so for the other members it was very difficult to remain awake until he came out of the toilet. Imagine if any untoward incident had taken place at any of the dark nights while the rest of the family slept unaware. The whole family felt very worried because he was on pacemaker.

As we all know that sometimes during a year the mosquitoes have a great feast on human blood. Our home was also not spared by the mosquitoes but my father never felt bogged down by it too. He had his own indigenous method to defend himself and enjoy his mission toilet. My father always lighted a mosquito coil and took it with him to the toilet. Now, I wonder that what would have happened if during those days the coil makers had come up with low smoke coil or no smoke one! Even he had a special chair for his toilet just like the reel father had and in the movie it was described as ‘singhashan’ that means royal chair. Indeed, we treated it to be a royal too. What a coincidence!

I always felt that my father was literally fascinated by worrying about bowel movement and loved his trips to toilet. He was an extraordinarily co-operative person but his mission toilet was an example of his adamant nature though without going into any argument with anyone in the family. After watching Piku I constantly thought that suppose my father had been like the reel father Bhaskor Banerjee then what would have happened to the lives of my siblings and mine.  

It is always a pleasure to have one’s father around, no matter what and in my case my father had only one weakness but even for that he never put anyone in trouble. While he was on bed we scolded him a lot when he used to ask for bed pan for quite a number of times each and every day because of his bowel mania but he never rebuked back. I still remember that one morning we found his bed completely soiled and had even pulled the rubber cloth and the bed sheet from under his waist and threw them on the floor. We all thought it was done out of rage maybe because we failed to respond his call during the night. I went a step further, stopped talking to him and for the whole day I did not visit his room. Next day he confided his point of view to me and made me cry. He told me that his act was not out of anger upon anyone rather it seemed he underwent some hallucination. He saw a water body around him and so he threw away his soiled sheets into it. Till date I feel ashamed whenever I recall that moment. 

The movie Piku dramatically connected me with it though my experience with my father was diametrically opposite to Piku's. For me the Bong connection was an added pleasure because of my Bengali lineage. The most affectionate portion of the movie was that having so much of difference in opinion the love between a father and a daughter never ceased to exist, daughter’s concern for her father, father’s dependence upon the daughter, even annoyance for each other and irritation at one another’s attitude simply grabbed all my attention. Though the movie ended at a stipulated time but made me not only recall every detail of my life with my adorable father rather I am still enjoying the spirit of it. I even visualized myself as Piku, the protagonist played by Deepika Padukone, and all thanks to Shoojit Sircar for directing such an emotional movie which is lead by motion as the caption of the movie says, motion se hi emotion, which in some or the other way made my dead father alive for me. 

The only reason I remember the iconic movie Sholay is because it was only  in my fifth attempt that I could  manage a ticket to see it. Even offering relatively higher prices in black did not succeed, such was the pull of the movie. It was released in August, 1975 and is these days celebrating forty years of its release.

What explains the phenomenal success of Sholay? It has till date earned around Rs 720 crores, highest by a Hindi movie and that too beginning with comparatively very low ticket rates in 1975. Its story is based on the recurring theme of revenge a very common plot in countless Hindi movies. Many critics have said it was at best a B grade Hindi movie. In fact the film reviews at its release gave it average ratings which could not have predicted that it would go to become an all time favourite.

What sets it apart from other Hindi movies/ In fact a critic has gone to the extent of saying that it was not an Hindi movie and that is what made it a phenomenal Hindi movie. Unlike typical Hindi films it was low on emotion content, though the characters were involved in a emotional revenge saga. It was the first film to present characters devoid of the overburden of emotionalism that made audiences weep in the theaters and clutch to their handkerchiefs.

For the first time characters had a distinct personality of their own without overriding inter plays. This gave the characters scope to make their presence felt on the screen. Even incidental characters with two minute roles left an inedible impression on the viewers. The masterstroke was the creation of the character Gabbar, a rustic dacoit  who did not live in luxurious surroundings full of buxom companions and torture chambers. Gabbar was as crude as they really are, full of venom and gutka chewing and cruel because of the omnipresent insecurity in a dacoit's life.

According to me Sholay became a super duper hit because of the character Gabbar, the simple but crisp dialogs by Salim-Javed and the appropriate location in Karnataka. Rest all fell in place automatically. This is not to say that the director, Ramesh Sippy, did not have significant role. He had. It was he who saw potential in the story and selected the appropriate actors for the various roles. For Gabbar's role he had selected Danny Denzongpa but he could not give the dates. Then Javed remembered that Salim had told him once about a powerful performance by Amjad Khan in a stage play he had seen. Amjad was called and his screen test was a hit and Sippy signed him up for Gabbar's role, which even Amitabh Bachchan wanted to do. Wonder how he would have done the role. Sippy also spent time to locate a proper location and finally settled on a rocky location near Bangalore. As a director with a tight script, well defined characters and excellent actors his job was simplified considerably.

Sholay also became a hit because of the many first technological incorporations both in audio and visual aspects which made the film comparable with Hollywood films and audiences loved these. The galloping horses falling with their front feet collapsing gave it an effect of reality. The sublme shots of Jaya in white saree lighting the evening lamp with an adoring Amitabh watching remains with you for a long time. The blabbering with a chatter box Basanti played by Hema and Dharmender adds spice to the film. The 'soocide' shot featuring Dharmender has now become a classic.

However it was the dialogs of the film which caught the fancy of the viewers and they  have now  almost immortal Simple but effective. "Kite aadmi the" by Gabbar became famous the way Amjad said it. Otherwise by itself it was a very mundane dialog. So has the "chal Basanthi -- " by Hema. Who can forget the impact of the dialog "itna sanaata kyon hai bhai'  by blind Maulvi played by the veteren Hangal.  Another one "Basanti in kutton ke samne mat nachana' by Dharmender or "Yeh haath mujhe dede thakur" by Sanjeev Kumar or "Basanti tumhara naam kya hai" by Amitabh or " Ham angrezoon ke zamane ke jailor hai" by Asrani or " Hota Bhopal -- " by Jagdeep have all become legendary. One can go on. The dialogs of Sholay were released in form of a record by a recording company and it did a roaring business.

Sholay came just when the Emergency was declared in the country and its vice like grip was beginning to stifle the masses. Did it have any effect on viewers thronging to the cinema halls is difficult to say. 

All in all Sholay was a trend setter and today many times film history is written as pre and post-Sholay. It has indeed become a milestone in Hindi films. It gave a boost to writers to develop strong characters and liberated them from cliches in which they had got trapped. The maturing audiences liked this welcome change and the canvas of stories became wider.

However all films become hit only in their times. As times go by, tastes of audiences change . It is doubtful if Sholay were to be released first time today it would become such mega hit.

In conclusion I narrate what a grandparent known to me told me. A couple of years back Sholay was re-released with some publicity. He took his 11 year old grandson to show him Sholay after praising it very much to him. Midway in the show the grandson became restless and forced his grandparent to walkout of the hall. The young lad told him how can we withstand such bore movie. How times change.

However in the history of Indian cinema and especially Hindi films Sholay has a very high place for its many contributions and the extraordinary reception it received from the film goers.