Producer: Guddu Dhanoa & Rajiv Tolani
Director: Guddu Dhanoa
*ing: Sunny Deol, Raveena Tandon, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal, & Manisha Koirala in a Special Appearance
Music: Dilip Sen Sameer Sen

Released on : April 24, 1998

Reviewed by: Anish Khanna
anish@indolink.com

out of 

Innocent, young, strapping boy with the ideal family is forced through police and politician "anyay's" and "atyachaar's" to become a rebel and murderer. Sound familiar? Well, probably because this is the plot of EVERY Sunny Deol movie of late. Mr. Jat Punjabi has to realize that he needs a new character, a new storyline, and needs to reaquaint himself with the art of A-C-T-I-N-G.

There are about a dozen or more dramatic scenes for Sunny in "Salaakhen", and every single one has him doing his usual "kutte kamine!" screaming with that wide-eyed "intense" look. This formula worked in "Ghayal", "Ghatak", and "Ziddi" simply because it was something new for Sunny, who used to be well- known as a non-actor, and also because the releases of these movies were rather spaced out. "Salaakhen" comes close on the heals of "Ziddi" and the flop "Zor", which makes the theme seem even more hackneyed than it already is. Sunny's wide-eyed look has now become nothing short of comical, and his screaming is just obnoxious.

The real saving graces of this film are the actors with the two biggest roles - namely Anupam Kher and Farida Jalal. Both actors, as Sunny's parents, are excellent as usual. I expected nothing short of Anupam's role, but I particularly enjoyed Farida's explosion at the corrupt police. Here is a mother's role that is leagues ahead of the cardboard maternal characters in other films.

The songs are catchy and well-picturized with Sunny (surprisingly) and Raveena doing some impressive footwork. Unfortunately, the songs are the extent of Raveena's role. This is her briefest yet of all her solo heroine films. Manisha Koirala appears for a song in the film, which really puzzled me. If you are looking for a heroine to do a guest appearance song, you don't go to an excellent dramatic actress with two left feet and rather "ample" love handles. The song is also out of place in the story.

Overall, the film is only worth a watch if you are a Farida or Anupam fan. Raveena needs to move on to roles that give her at least a paragraph of dialogue. Sunny needs to STOP doing violent films and go back to more interesting roles like the one he did in "Jeet". Hopefully - "London", which is said to be an umpteenth but classy re-make of the love story "Sabrina", will revive his career that is bound to sag after "Salaakhen" - Sunny puttar's second dud in a row.

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