MOHRA has everything that a good 90's Bollywood action film needs. It has a diverse cast of characters each with their own little quirks, a loud background score blaring between scenes announcing the importance of various moments, characters or dialogues, tons of reaction shots of characters emphasising the potency of a particular action, energetic action sequences with lots of kho-kho and dhisoom-dhisoom sounds, a few molestation scenes, electrifying dance numbers, an absolute rager of an album and a story filled with lots of twists and turns with a perfect happy ending. There is no place for subtlety here therefore everything is cranked up to 11.
The plot of this film is what makes the experience a tad sour since it's really ridiculous and if you think about it, it makes very little sense. There are too many illogical things crammed into the screenplay, for instance, the re-trial of Vijay organised by Jindal. In this trial, which by the way is organised in a random place with some random people instead of a court and lawyers, it's decided that he is innocent and should be acquitted despite his killing of 4 persons. Agreed that those 4 people were bad but that doesn't mean he can be declared free just because he was wronged by them. I am pretty sure that's not how the judiciary works.
The villain of this film is an absolute dumbass and his plans are so stupid that even the plot of TOMMY WISEAU's masterpiece makes more sense than that. He could have easily killed his adversaries but chooses not to because he is a moron. He could have easily hidden his identity but once a character knows his reality, he himself proclaims to the world that he is the real baddie and even organises a meeting of goons to further prove that point. I mean how can someone be so dumb and still want to rule the underworld?
Pardon my rant but so many illogical issues in the screenplay ruined a fair portion of the movie for me which apart from its loose writing is fairly solid overall.
The film is stacked with good actors and they don't disappoint in their respective roles. Sunil Shetty plays an angry young man ruined by the system and is now an enforcer against the same system in a brilliant manner. Akshay Kumar as an upright inspector is perfectly cast and his boyish charm is appealing. He also does a lot of martial arts-inspired stunts and that's commendable. Raveena Tandon has nothing much to do except look good and mostly plays a damsel in distress for both heroes to save her. Her character is written as a headstrong and fierce journalist but right after her introduction, she is saved from rape by Sunil Shetty's character and you wonder what's the point of writing a character like such who is strong on the surface but deep down is just a damsel who needs saving from time to time and mostly plays third fiddle to our heroes and villains. Gulshan Grover as the drug dealer Tyson is a blast to watch and while his character is written in a caricaturish manner, he makes it his own due to his insane way of mouthing dialogues and extravagant mannerism. Paresh Rawal is awesome in his role of a morally complex sub-inspector and his entry scene is hilarious where he cross-dresses in order to get into a drug lord's den. Raza Murad as a drug lord is funny and menacing on equal terms. But the show's real star is Nasiruddin Shah, and the way he changes his character midway from a charismatic and upright blind man to an absolutely malevolent crime boss is a testament to his talent and why he is among Indian cinema's greats. Just by a single look, he generates enough viciousness that you marvel at him and even though you clearly hate his character, you are in total awe of him.
The run-time is a little longer than it needed to be but the pace is brisk and there is enough action to keep you invested throughout. And as I have previously mentioned, the subtlety is thrown out of the window so don't expect grounded and real things here. It's a perfect example of an era where everything was loud, and melodramatic and was made purely for entertainment. I liked it but some things stopped me from loving it. But on a pure entertainment level, it was an absolute banger.
The plot of this film is what makes the experience a tad sour since it's really ridiculous and if you think about it, it makes very little sense. There are too many illogical things crammed into the screenplay, for instance, the re-trial of Vijay organised by Jindal. In this trial, which by the way is organised in a random place with some random people instead of a court and lawyers, it's decided that he is innocent and should be acquitted despite his killing of 4 persons. Agreed that those 4 people were bad but that doesn't mean he can be declared free just because he was wronged by them. I am pretty sure that's not how the judiciary works.
The villain of this film is an absolute dumbass and his plans are so stupid that even the plot of TOMMY WISEAU's masterpiece makes more sense than that. He could have easily killed his adversaries but chooses not to because he is a moron. He could have easily hidden his identity but once a character knows his reality, he himself proclaims to the world that he is the real baddie and even organises a meeting of goons to further prove that point. I mean how can someone be so dumb and still want to rule the underworld?
Pardon my rant but so many illogical issues in the screenplay ruined a fair portion of the movie for me which apart from its loose writing is fairly solid overall.
The film is stacked with good actors and they don't disappoint in their respective roles. Sunil Shetty plays an angry young man ruined by the system and is now an enforcer against the same system in a brilliant manner. Akshay Kumar as an upright inspector is perfectly cast and his boyish charm is appealing. He also does a lot of martial arts-inspired stunts and that's commendable. Raveena Tandon has nothing much to do except look good and mostly plays a damsel in distress for both heroes to save her. Her character is written as a headstrong and fierce journalist but right after her introduction, she is saved from rape by Sunil Shetty's character and you wonder what's the point of writing a character like such who is strong on the surface but deep down is just a damsel who needs saving from time to time and mostly plays third fiddle to our heroes and villains. Gulshan Grover as the drug dealer Tyson is a blast to watch and while his character is written in a caricaturish manner, he makes it his own due to his insane way of mouthing dialogues and extravagant mannerism. Paresh Rawal is awesome in his role of a morally complex sub-inspector and his entry scene is hilarious where he cross-dresses in order to get into a drug lord's den. Raza Murad as a drug lord is funny and menacing on equal terms. But the show's real star is Nasiruddin Shah, and the way he changes his character midway from a charismatic and upright blind man to an absolutely malevolent crime boss is a testament to his talent and why he is among Indian cinema's greats. Just by a single look, he generates enough viciousness that you marvel at him and even though you clearly hate his character, you are in total awe of him.
The run-time is a little longer than it needed to be but the pace is brisk and there is enough action to keep you invested throughout. And as I have previously mentioned, the subtlety is thrown out of the window so don't expect grounded and real things here. It's a perfect example of an era where everything was loud, and melodramatic and was made purely for entertainment. I liked it but some things stopped me from loving it. But on a pure entertainment level, it was an absolute banger.