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Movie Review: Drona
Two thumbs up
Director: Goldie Behl
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Kay Kay Menon, Priyanka Chopra, Jaya Bachchan
Rating: 3.5 on 5
The story is simple, spun around the eternal battle of good versus evil. The beginning is just like other superhero movies and Harry Potter: the hero thinks he is ordinary until he discovers his special powers by accident and his world takes a 360 degree turn.
That's the case with Aditya (Abhishek) who lives with his foster family and runs their supermarket. Whenever he feels lonely, a lively blue petal gives him company and helps him get on with life. His life changes when he meets evil magician and descendant of the demons, Riz Raizada (Kay Kay) and discovers that he is the Drona (protector) with the help of his newfound bodyguard Sonia (Priyanka). They travel to Pratapgarh where he reunites with his mother Jayati Devi (Jaya). Now Riz is after Drona to procure the secret of mass destruction, which Drona must protect at all costs to save the world. Super strength is his superpower while hydrophobia is his weakness.
Drona scores on production values and technical aspects. The production design (Tania Behl) is beautiful, right from Pratapgarh palace to Riz's lair and the dreamy town of Raazpur. The cinematography (Sameer Arya) is brilliant and super sharp, making Prague look like a fairytale town, capturing the scary vastness of the Namibian desert, lending an old world charm to Pratapgarh and tracking all the super sharp and swift action sequences. Dhruv Ghanekar is quite a find and the background score is remarkable; best I have heard this year. The songs Oop Cha and the male and female Drona versions are my favorites while Nanhe Nanhe has a great melody. The costumes by Anaita Adajania are gorgeous though Priyanka's itsy bitsy costumes in the songs are slightly incongruous.
The special effects and graphic comic effects (David Bush) are flawless, spectacular and mind-blowing, the best in Indian cinema so far and at par with any Hollywood film. Truly awesome!
The action sequences( Shyam Shukla and Tom Delmar) be it the car chase in the beginning or the train sequence in Namibia are top of the line.
The dialogues (Jaydeep Sarkar) are suitably heavy. Priyanka is good: she has never looked better or sexier and kicks ass in the action sequences. She uses her small knife against swords effectively. Abhishek is consistent and extremely likeable. Mom Jaya wears a lot of make up but is effective. Kay Kay is superb and steals the show. He makes Riz comical, maniacal, wicked and very scary.
Drona's flaw lies in its slow pace and the story could have been less like Harry Potter., though it has been Indianised well. The useless step brother, Roger (like Dudley in Harry Potter) is a spoof on Shah Rukh Khan with the way he talks and his hairstyle and why did Kay Kay's army have to look like the Death Eaters from Harry Potter?
Every frame of Drona is a work of art; you can see the effort and the beauty. Goldie Behl has taken his chances and delivered a magical movie unlike any we have ever seen.
Two thumbs up
Director: Goldie Behl
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Kay Kay Menon, Priyanka Chopra, Jaya Bachchan
Rating: 3.5 on 5
The story is simple, spun around the eternal battle of good versus evil. The beginning is just like other superhero movies and Harry Potter: the hero thinks he is ordinary until he discovers his special powers by accident and his world takes a 360 degree turn.
That's the case with Aditya (Abhishek) who lives with his foster family and runs their supermarket. Whenever he feels lonely, a lively blue petal gives him company and helps him get on with life. His life changes when he meets evil magician and descendant of the demons, Riz Raizada (Kay Kay) and discovers that he is the Drona (protector) with the help of his newfound bodyguard Sonia (Priyanka). They travel to Pratapgarh where he reunites with his mother Jayati Devi (Jaya). Now Riz is after Drona to procure the secret of mass destruction, which Drona must protect at all costs to save the world. Super strength is his superpower while hydrophobia is his weakness.
Drona scores on production values and technical aspects. The production design (Tania Behl) is beautiful, right from Pratapgarh palace to Riz's lair and the dreamy town of Raazpur. The cinematography (Sameer Arya) is brilliant and super sharp, making Prague look like a fairytale town, capturing the scary vastness of the Namibian desert, lending an old world charm to Pratapgarh and tracking all the super sharp and swift action sequences. Dhruv Ghanekar is quite a find and the background score is remarkable; best I have heard this year. The songs Oop Cha and the male and female Drona versions are my favorites while Nanhe Nanhe has a great melody. The costumes by Anaita Adajania are gorgeous though Priyanka's itsy bitsy costumes in the songs are slightly incongruous.
The special effects and graphic comic effects (David Bush) are flawless, spectacular and mind-blowing, the best in Indian cinema so far and at par with any Hollywood film. Truly awesome!
The action sequences( Shyam Shukla and Tom Delmar) be it the car chase in the beginning or the train sequence in Namibia are top of the line.
The dialogues (Jaydeep Sarkar) are suitably heavy. Priyanka is good: she has never looked better or sexier and kicks ass in the action sequences. She uses her small knife against swords effectively. Abhishek is consistent and extremely likeable. Mom Jaya wears a lot of make up but is effective. Kay Kay is superb and steals the show. He makes Riz comical, maniacal, wicked and very scary.
Drona's flaw lies in its slow pace and the story could have been less like Harry Potter., though it has been Indianised well. The useless step brother, Roger (like Dudley in Harry Potter) is a spoof on Shah Rukh Khan with the way he talks and his hairstyle and why did Kay Kay's army have to look like the Death Eaters from Harry Potter?
Every frame of Drona is a work of art; you can see the effort and the beauty. Goldie Behl has taken his chances and delivered a magical movie unlike any we have ever seen.
10