Kisi Ki Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan Review

Ashwin Ram

Kisi Ki Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan is an official remake of the Tamil film Veeram [2014]. The movie stars Salman Khan, Pooja Hegde, Venkatesh and Jagapathi Babu in the lead roles.

Premise: Pooja Hegde, a girl from a family that follows the Ahimsa path comes to know that Salman Khan is a violent man after falling in love with him. But now, Pooja Hegde’s brother Venkatesh, and the entire family is in danger because of the Jagapathi Babu.

Writing/ Direction: The story arc is the same as we saw in the original version, but there are plenty of changes in the screenplay flow, drama between the characters, scene placements, etc. Unfortunately nothing much works in the favour of the film. The two major strengths of Veeram were the meaningful emotional situations and mass moments that are in a perfect meter. Here the orphan element is a very strong one, but the place where it is revealed and exaggerated melodrama that happens between the brothers after that weakens the sentiments. The mass sequences are over-the-top, the punch is missing in every possible aspect like dialogues, purpose, shot-compositions, etc. It never allows the viewer to be involved in the subject due to lack of believability. In the original version, Ajithkumar was a respectful man in the town because of a reason, here Salman Khan is dearly called as Bhaijaan by his area people simply because he is a Bhai for the whole of India. Even Tamanna’s profession in the Tamil version was shown with care, here Pooja Hegde’s profession is only via words. Most importantly, the second half happens in South India and everybody is speaking in Hindi, there was no need to place the story outside North India post midway. The beauty of the original version is that for a very long time, we would be thinking that the hero is the target. And, how the hero manages to hide his violent side from the heroine’s family till the pre-climax. But here, things are taken very lethargically and the soul is lost in the process.

Performances: Salman Khan seems so disinterested, he literally adds zero value in terms of dance, screen-presence, expressions of all sorts, etc. Even his long-haired look in the first half was so bad on the big screen. Such a top quality work by Pooja Hegde, it is crystal clear from her performance how deeply she has understood her character. Neat act by Venkatesh, his twisted role commercially clicks, but the moment is very late to the already spoiled party. Jagapathi Babu has been used so badly, being a villain his body language is funny at places. Poor casting for the brother roles, their first meet with Pooja Hegde, guys see her as if they have found their own love interest.

Technicalities: Such terrible songs to listen to and with the visuals they are even more horrifying, as the choreography and Salman Khan’s dancing skills are that bad. Commendable work by the cameraman, despite some odd usage of VFX, shots have neatly come out, especially Venkatesh’s intro fight with lightning effect is rocking. Atrocity in the name of stunts, excessive heroism starting from the hero’s introduction. The fight sequences take the cinematic liberty factor for granted and treat the hero only like a God.

Verdict - With a solid story, it had so much potential to be an emotionally entertaining commercial flick. But it lands as an overly heroic melodrama that gets nothing right, the quality of the screenplay deteriorates as it progresses.

Kisi Ki Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan - A Spineless Remake!

Rating - 2/ 5.