More than 20 years ago, a young man opted for a life of crime and had no qualms accepting moral responsibility for his actions. His name was Sagar Alias Jacky, the protagonist in the Malayalam film, Irupatham Noottandu.
When asked by a nosey journalist friend about the reasons behind his choosing such a life -- she does not get a heart wrenching story of a simple man getting stuck in the quagmire of criminal life -- rather, he just throws a bunch of magazines and journals saying that each one of them has a glorified account of lifestyles of underworld dons in Mumbai. That was the uniqueness of Sagar alias Jacky.
We visit this man again in Amal Neerad directed Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded. Surely, his stature has risen from being a mere henchman of a political bigwig to someone who politicians run to in time of crisis. He has also spread his wings internationally so much so that other big dons call him for help.
Alas! For all this, where is the emotionally chord we felt for the Sagar of yore? The humility of the man has vanished and he is shown caring for only 'his own people'. We can lazily term this effort as 'all style, no substance'.
That said, we do find however, a few vignettes of humanism in the most unexpected places -- especially in the romantic track with a TV reporter played by Bhavana (though the song used here is more like a speed breaker). He is protective of her as a guardian angel, but she develops love for him that is nipped in the bud by the villains so to speak. Here we feel that a bit of back story of Sagar would have given more substance to his character. Like what happens to Urvashi's character who was his lover waiting for him at the end of the original. The only continuation from there is Jagathy Sreekumar's Telugu-speaking comedian.
Mohanlal's is not as loud as his other superstar avatars. But we have seen him handle more complex characters with utmost ease. So, we don't feel bewitched by this performance and feel that he is just going through the motions here.
The others in the supporting characters are competent but no one to gush about here, which is a disappointment considering the presence of Shobhana and Nedumudi Venu.
And, talking about overuse of technology, yes there is technical pizzazz though a little simplicity would have made us feel closer to the characters.
The verdict? Amal Neerad's second directorial venture after Big B is just an average fare, which is a disappointment considering the high expectations.
Rediff Rating: