Customer Reviews

One 2 Ka 4 - (DVD/Indian Cinema/Bollywood/Hindi Film/Shahrukh Khan)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this movie, it just makes you feel good. It also helps that Shahrukh Khan is in it..

Shahrukh and Juhi have great chemistry together and I really enjoyed the movie story lines. The supporting cast are excellent and the dancing and singing numbers are great. "I'm sorry" performed by Shahruk is brilliant. This is a film worth keeping and watching again and again.

Although 2001's ONE 2 KA 4 features another pairing up of Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, it's merely a good, and not great, Bollywood movie. What helps is that the screen still lights up that much brighter whenever Shahrukh and Juhi share a scene, and that Juhi demonstrates a flair for light comedy, and also that Shahrukh effortlessly drives the film. Whatever it is that he does which makes him the King of Bollywood - the histrionics, the good acting, the making the most of those key moments - whatever it is, Shahrukh is very much in his element.

But, like a lot of Bollywood cinema, ONE 2 KA 4 is a mishmash and a rip off of Hollywood. In this instance, ONE 2 KA 4 bases its key premise on Michael Keaton's ONE GOOD COP. Our movie opens like a buddy cop thriller, as stern veteran police officer Javed Abbas (Jackie Shroff) and his younger, trigger-happy partner Arun Verma (Shahrukh Khan) go into shoot-'em-out action. Somewhere along the way, we learn that there's a softer side to Javed, that he's a single parent raising four children (one of them not his own). We also learn that his partner Arun isn't too fond of the kids. His distaste is fully reciprocated by the children, who tend to play practical jokes on Arun (the itching powder prank was messed up and had me scratching myself, not that that's unusual).

For most of the movie, the tone vacillates from warm family drama to loud police action thriller. We get to the meat of the plot when Javed is murdered in the line of duty, and Arun decides to take in his kids. Except that the kids now really, really can't stand Arun, in part blaming him for their father's death. Throw in an annoying house guest who won't leave and a chatty, perky Punjabi girl named Geeta (Chawla) whom Javed had befriended, and it becomes this really odd family dynamic.

On the police side of things, Arun is looking to nab a vicious drug lord named KKB who may or may not have had something to do with his partner's murder, and it doesn't help the movie that the actor who plays KKB turns in an over-the-top performance. This is something eventually held in common with the film's other significant villain, whose identity we don't learn until later. But, before that big reveal, this other villain is actually pretty restrained. But that guy, KKB, he's pretty cartoony throughout.

The big twist (and there's always one in Bollywood) happens right before intermission, as Arun investigates a suspicious nightclub and is shocked to see a girl performing onstage who looks remarkably like Geeta. This also segues us to the best musical number in the picture, "Osaka Muraiya." The other songs don't thrill me at all.

Since I'm bringing up flaws, I may as well mention a few others. Plenty of plot holes here, and to me the most glaring one is that Arun commits a crime and, when exposed, is neither expelled from the police force nor even receive jail time - instead, he merely gets suspended. Also, when converging on a highly dangerous collar, are Indian cops so macho that most of them disdain wearing bulletproof vests?

Shahrukh Khan and Jackie Shroff are good in the action scenes, particularly Shahrukh who gets plenty of chances to show off his athleticism. I would say that the best parts of the film are the scenes with Shahrukh and the kids, except that Shahrukh doesn't really interact that much with them. So there's not much resonance there. Instead the highlights revolve primarily around those moments with Shahrukh and Juhi, and I'm not complaining. As terrific as these two are with the romantic scenes, the moments which stick in my mind are the comedy bits: the diner fight sequence in which Geeta sticks a fork in Arun and, later on, when Arun slips on a skateboard and falls on Geeta's sleeping figure. But the one time I really laughed out loud was when Arun, initially nagged by Geeta into buying groceries, ends up being the grocery errand boy for the entire precinct. It's also pretty cool that Juhi takes on three different personalities in this movie.

And, yet, as good as Shahrukh and Juhi are, there's something missing. I don't know if it's the script (but it's probably it) or that there isn't enough focus on what should've been the heart of the movie, which is Arun's growing relationship with the children. Anyway, see ONE 2 KA 4, if you get the chance. But don't go out of your way looking for it.

I love this movie, Shahrukh Khan is funny and very talented at playing a good guy and bad guy. I recommend it.

Javed Abbas (Jackie Shroff) is widowed Police Officer with four children. His partner is Arun Verma (Shahrukh Khan). Both Javed and Arun are honest, hard-working and diligent. And this leads to the "death" of Javed in mysterious circumstances. After Javed's death, Arun takes over the responsiblity of looking after his four children. He does run into several problems and decides to seek the help of Geeta Choudhary (Juhi chawla), who readily agrees and moves in with him and the four children. The children take an instant liking to Geeta, and things seem to settle down. One day Arun finds out that his former partner's death was really a homicide. When he attempts to investigate, charges of drug-trafficking, and bribery are brought out against him, He finds out that Geeta is not what she claims to be, and is living a double life.