Review
Blackia
Movie
Release Date: 3 May 2019
Starcast: Dev Kharoud, Ihana Dhillon, Arsh Hundal, Ashish Duggal, Rana Jung Bahadur
Producer: Vivek Ohri, Atul Ohri
Director: Sukhminder Dhanjal
Synopsis: Blackia is the story of a man named Gaama who is born to a smuggler father and a mother who is lawful and believes in living the right way. His father gets deceived by one of his fellow mates and loses out on his business of illegal exchange of gold across the border. He persuades his son to take over but the son chooses to walk on the footsteps of his mother. Ultimately, circumstances force him into this dark world and he takes over to rule. Backing it all is an investor Iqbal Cheema who later turns out be a traitor. What happens next is for you to watch.
Review: All those who watched the trailer and were super excited to see Dev Kharoud's back in action project could be disappointed because the film does come as a relief from the previous two releases like Kakaji and Yaar Belli but does not stand strong when it comes to the overall experience.
Blackia reminded us of the 90s Bollywood cinema like Deewar where everything happens smoothly under the nose of everyone and the hero keeps killing everyone without getting even a flick on his shoulder. This film too starts with a background story where two men are shown to smuggle gold from Pakistan to India and they sell it off to a local jeweller (played by Rana Jung Bahadur). One of the two men turns foe and shoots a bullet in the leg of his mate, which leaves him off the smuggling ground forever. The deceiver (Ashish Duggal) takes over and builds a strong network in his area by feeding everyone in police, politics, local gangsters and what not.
On the other hand, the handicapped fellow keeps persuading his son to take over and run his smuggling business but the boy (Gaama played by Dev Kharoud) chooses to walk the path defined by his mother and does not want to live the life of a blackia. Gaama is shown to be an innocent guy but an intelligent one who gets into a college on merit and that's where he falls for a girl played by Ihana Dhillon. The love story takes a lead then and we soon found out that she is the beloved daughter of the same jeweller who bought the smuggled gold from Gaama's father and now the other fellow. Inside the college, there is a sequence where we see a love triangle followed by some action. All this then leads to a marriage sequence of Gaama's sister where the in laws demand a watch and a cycle. Here somewhere you'll see an interval happening, hoping that the action on the other side of this break would be worth the time.
Soon, munching some caramel popcorns while we thought the second half of the film will give us the much-needed adrenaline rush, the film went down with a thud and we kept wondering why the makers lost direction with a story that was so strong. Ihana's act made Dev Kahroud's screen presence weak and her language skills are still not upto the mark. Atleast in the era that was shown, local small town girls never had a slang.
Dev's screen presence was strong when he roared but the roar seemed to die down because of some poorly grafted action sequences and some long draaaaaggged dialogue baazi. His transition from a man who asks his mom for each penny to a man wearing animal print flashy shirts with chunks of gold around his neck was also unconvincing. Rather, the director didn't even touch upon the transitional phase (this was the beauty of Dakkuan Da Munda). Even at some points the scenes were unnecessarily inserted. For instance, setting the car on fire was so not required and even the mandir scene wasn't that important, actually, it was seemingly done to connect some dots but it all proved to be fruitless.
Towards the end, the sudden twists and turns were so not required. The screenplay writer must have thought that it will excite the audience but on the contrary, it was a big turn off to see the religious angles and the traitor bit that was so exaggerated. One question that boggled my mind at the last bit was that why didn't Gaama gun down the traitor when he was leaving from his home to rush to the babaji? I mean the man's chapter would have finished there and then.
The end was the weakest part of the film where Gaama is seen dying in the arms of his mother. This scene gave us a deja vu of Amitabh and Nirupama Roy where Amitabh keeps talking talking talking till the Director finally shouts now die. Lol, too much talking man!
Though the film does have a social message but it gets diluted amidst all the badly woven drama. At some points, you will even see the ladies gazing into the camera screen.
This film had some good performances by actors like Ravinder Mand, Ashish Duggal, and of course, Dev himself but the product as a whole could have been much better if it was given in the hands of those who can treat such subjects well.
Direction: The film's screenplay, story and dialogues are by Inderpal Singh and it is his department that is the weakest in terms of the film's output. Sukhmindar Dhanjal had a blurry vision in terms of direction and missed out on a lot of intricate details which were very important to build a connect with the audience. Keeping a scene too long does not make it impactful, rather it becomes boring (advice).
Music: Only the title song was good, else nothing much for the music lovers to hum.
Verdict: Blackia is an average film which lost its lusture due to lack of proper vision and screenplay. Even the editing was not up to the mark which made the film a dragged 90s type Bollywood cinema jisch kuj vi hoi janda and you're bound to watch it just because you like the hero of the film.
Rating: 3/5 (If only the film was treated in a better way it would have smashed the box office)
