Brothers (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – An official remake of Warrior (2011)

My Take – I loved the Gavin O’Connor directed Tom Hardy – Nick Nolte – Joel Edgerton starrer Warrior (2011), a perfect blend of hard core MMA fights & family melodrama. While the movie is very under rated for its own good, I clearly remember thinking this is a kind of film Bollywood could do, well mainly due to the characters being really high on emotions in comparison to other English language movies, & Bollywood being well Bollywood, an expert in creating tear jerkers, the combination was bound to succeed. And who better to produce the film – Karan Johar, the man behind the most well known tear jerker film of out time (I am referring to the multi starrer Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham) & director Karan Malhotra, who remade a film so unfairly forgotten (the 1990’s Amitabh Bachchan starrer Agneepath), with perfect gusto. With a perfect star cast & the original producer – Lionsgate Films on board, this film seemed like it was destined to rule. Well definitely it does not stand up to the original too well, on its own its a very good film. Director Karan Malhotra had impressed me with his intense and focus in direction in his first film. It was to the point and he has a knack of extracting great performances from his cast. But there is a self-indulgence in him which he is unable to control in some of the films important junctures. He had plenty of them in Agneepath climax and it is there in plenty all throughout brothers especially in first half. I don’t have a problem with slow pace . It helps invest ourselves into the characters. I loved pace of the recently released Drishyam, but I am not a fan of overstretched forced scenes which is the case in a lot of scenes of this film. After a slow start, the film picks up pace post interval for an exciting second half, which director Karan Malhotra nails it! The film is exactly what actor Sidharth Malhotra puts it – ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum meets MMA’!

The story follows ex fighter Gary Fernandez (Jackie Shroff), who on completing his sentence finds out that only his younger son Monty (Sidhart Malhotra) is out to pick him up, while his older son David (Akshay Kumar) still holds a grudge against him for accidentally killing his mother Maria Fernandes (Shefali Shah) in a drunk state & also holds his step brother Monty responsible. David, an ex fighter himself is now a physics teacher married to Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandez) with a very ill daughter. In order to over take his money troubles David begins street fighting. Upon the arrival of India’s MMA fighting championship known as R2F aka right too fight. Monty joins the tournament in order to take over the resentment of their father’s preferred love for David, and David joins in to win the money to finance his daughter cure. Throw in some training montages & some emotional father-son & brother to brother moments, well you have the whole film. The movie is able to set up an emotional back story for the lead up to main events of the film which is the R2F. What this movie does differently to warrior is it provides insight into the history of the the lead characters and the reason behind conflict, it also alters the story to suit a Bollywood audience and try a few things differently. While the story has been readjusted to fit an Indian audience, I do feel the original plot points of Warrior was way more interesting & believable. For example, I do get David’s hate for his father, but why so much hate for the young Monty, who was looking for nothing but acceptance. In the original Monty’s character seemed more messed up due to the tragedies he had to go through, here he is just a result of bad parenting. Director Karan Malhotra has tweaked the character of Tom Hardy i.e Monty who had a rather coolness about himself that he dint care about any of his family members. here Sid is shown as a “dutiful” son which is filmy and reduces the complexity of the character. No fault of Sid Malhotra who has done very well in is role. The heart of the film lies in R2F (meant to be UFC of real world) championship. The training montage of Akshay and Sid is awe- inspiring . The action choreography is just brilliant! The real coolness and brain of brothers is thanks to Eric Brown and Micheal Leher, the action choreographers. Thanks to these two talented people that at least each of the fight scenes has a unique personality and attitude in them. Sidharth‘s fight scenes are about not just about brute force .

They reflect a personality of one kind of fighting style. He views his opponents like his brother and thinks of ways to knock him out as fast as possible. While its the reverse for Akshay Kumar. His style is a different personality by itself. His signature moves are about exposing weaknesses of the fighter and then dominating them with technique. In this process, he allows himself to take a few blows if needed. Special mention must be given to Akshay and Sidharth whose training has certainly not gone unnoticed and made the movie all the more engaging. The songs of the movie are good setting up the emotions, back story or the training, however the Mary song pictured on Kareena Kapoor seem forced. The film rests on the performance of three actors & they shine their way through with power packed performances! It seems these three were destined to play this roles. Akshay Kumar portrays the angst of an estranged son/brother very effectively. If he is very good in emotional and dramatic scenes, he is simply splendid in the action sequences. He looks every inch the character he plays. We all have seen Akshay doing martial arts many times before but this time its much bigger and Sidharth also joins him this time. Sidharth Malhotra is very good in a subdued role. He lets his eyes and body do the talking in several scenes – and to good effect. He is excellent in the MMA fights. Jacqueline Fernandez springs a surprise in a non-glamorous role and plays Jenny rather well. Jackie Shroff is absolutely outstanding in a tailor-made role. He is terrific in emotional scenes and may well bag nominations, if not awards, for best supporting actor. Shefali Shah is fantastic as Maria Fernandes. She shows that she is one of the best, in the scene in which she first meets little Monty. Ashutosh Rana is a delight to watch. My suggestion, do not go into this movie wishing to compare it to Warrior because then you are asking yourself to not enjoy this, instead go into this wanting to watch a Bollywood movie that isn’t your typical masala film and instead a family drama mixed with sports. On the whole, ‘Brothers‘ is a satisfying remake of ‘Warrior‘, while the over melodramatic scenes tends to bring down the film down at times, its the superb performances & the eye pleasing action scenes which manages to keep us hooked. Worth a watch!