Review By: Rajeev Masand :
It must take a special kind of skill to remake a mediocre film like 1983’s Himmatwala without even marginally improving on it. Director Sajid Khan’s potpourri of excessive melodrama, puerile humor, cartoonish action, and garish songs plods on for two-and-a-half hours with little concern for your bladder or your mental health.The all-new Himmatwala has many of the same problems that plagued the earlier film, and a few new ones of its own. Chief among these is its inability to decide what it wants to be – an honest remake, evocative of the tone and spirit of those 80s ‘Madras potboilers’, or a tongue-in-cheek spoof of that very genre.I’m going with one out of five for director Sajid Khan’s Himmatwala.
Review By: Taran Adarsh :
HIMMATWALA takes you back to the familiar terrain. It's the typical good versus bad saga loaded with every possible ingredient that makes masala films tick. Sajid ensures that those who have watched the earlier HIMMATWALA -- or those who haven't watched it -- get paisa vasool entertainment in those 2.30 hours, but, unfortunately, what unfolds on screen is so routine and monotonous that you fervently hope for some novelty in this adaptation.On the whole, HIMMATWALA fails as a film. The only silver lining is the presence of A-list stars and of course, the hype surrounding the film, which might attract footfalls in mass-friendly circuits initially. But as a film that promises big entertainment, HIMMATWALA is hugely disappointing.
By: Anupama Chopra Site :
There is no polite way to say this. Himmatwala is an excruciating experience. It begins with a close-up of a disco ball and it’s all downhill from there. I have very little memory of the original Himmatwala but this remake is so painful that I longed for Sridevi, Jeetendra and his trademark white shoes. More than anything, Himmatwala reminds us of why the 1980s are considered the worst decade in Hindi cinema. It’s loud, puerile and so unfunny that it hurts. When Himmatwala ended, I felt like I had aged a few years. Honestly, you need real courage to brave this one. I’m going with one star.
By: Madhureeta Mukherjee Site:
In this remake, Sajid Khan's passion for the 80s kitsch is entertaining to begin with, but gets suffocating after a point. While few scenes (grand and outlandish) win ceetees, the rest try too hard to get any reaction. He also attempts 'Nazi'jokes, gay-gags and revisits Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho'(we braved this too!). This one might impress the wannabe Himmatwalas out there. But it'll take more than himmat to go back to the gawdiest era of all. Rest, as they say, is history.
Review By: Sukanya Verma :
Sarcasm aside, retro is fun but only when offered with levity, chutzpah and an ironic of parody and reverence. The new Himmatwala displays this quality but only in spurts and superficially. Sajid Khan loves big scale but the production values of all his films, their aesthetics, g are consistently tacky. Himmatwala is no different.In one of the films’ hilariously tragic scenes, a character says, ‘Teri maa, meri maa. Teri bahen, meri bahen.’ But even though I sincerely tried Sajid, teri audience cannot be meri audience.
Sarcasm aside, retro is fun but only when offered with levity, chutzpah and an ironic of parody and reverence. The new Himmatwala displays this quality but only in spurts and superficially. Sajid Khan loves big scale but the production values of all his films, their aesthetics, g are consistently tacky. Himmatwala is no different.In one of the films’ hilariously tragic scenes, a character says, ‘Teri maa, meri maa. Teri bahen, meri bahen.’ But even though I sincerely tried Sajid, teri audience cannot be meri audience.
Review By: Saibal Chaterjee :
if you, in the manner of the director, accept that unalloyed bunkum can be legitimately passed off, and gleefully lapped up, as cinematic entertainment, you might even come away pleased as punch with Himmatwala. The film lacks punch, but it loses no opportunity to pun on the word and the act. One would have described the film as pea-brained and left it at that if only if it had a semblance of a brain. Himmatwala is a mindless potpourri that brings together the worst ingredients of 1980s Hindi cinema and parlays them into a messy mélange that quivers repeatedly under its own weight.To each his own. But you don’t really have to subject yourself to this monstrous assault on the senses, even if you are blessed with loads of himmat.
if you, in the manner of the director, accept that unalloyed bunkum can be legitimately passed off, and gleefully lapped up, as cinematic entertainment, you might even come away pleased as punch with Himmatwala. The film lacks punch, but it loses no opportunity to pun on the word and the act. One would have described the film as pea-brained and left it at that if only if it had a semblance of a brain. Himmatwala is a mindless potpourri that brings together the worst ingredients of 1980s Hindi cinema and parlays them into a messy mélange that quivers repeatedly under its own weight.To each his own. But you don’t really have to subject yourself to this monstrous assault on the senses, even if you are blessed with loads of himmat.
Review By: Komal Nahta :
Director Sajid Khan has tried to recreate the era of the eighties but has overlooked the fact that the audience has moved decades ahead. His narrative style caters to just a section of the single-screen cinema audiences. On the whole, Himmatwala faces a supremely uphill task at the ticket-windows. It will do well initially at the single-screen cinemas but will not find favour with the multiplex audience. Without much support coming in from the younger generation, it will go down in box-office history as a forgettable flop.
Director Sajid Khan has tried to recreate the era of the eighties but has overlooked the fact that the audience has moved decades ahead. His narrative style caters to just a section of the single-screen cinema audiences. On the whole, Himmatwala faces a supremely uphill task at the ticket-windows. It will do well initially at the single-screen cinemas but will not find favour with the multiplex audience. Without much support coming in from the younger generation, it will go down in box-office history as a forgettable flop.
Review By: Shubhra Gupta Site:
I expected Himmatwala to be predictable, not only because I have faint memories of the older film, but because it follows such a template. I also expected it to be annoying, and it doesn't disappoint on both scores. But I didn't think it would be so dull. We smile at this line. Because it is a smart send-up of the films we used to love despite themselves. If this Himmatwala had adopted that tone and kept it flowing through the film, it would have been something to watch. Devgn manages to get it in a couple of moments, but only in a couple. In the rest, it needs all your courage.
I expected Himmatwala to be predictable, not only because I have faint memories of the older film, but because it follows such a template. I also expected it to be annoying, and it doesn't disappoint on both scores. But I didn't think it would be so dull. We smile at this line. Because it is a smart send-up of the films we used to love despite themselves. If this Himmatwala had adopted that tone and kept it flowing through the film, it would have been something to watch. Devgn manages to get it in a couple of moments, but only in a couple. In the rest, it needs all your courage.
Review By: Gayatri Sankar Site:
Sajid Khan’s “entertainer” ‘Himmatwala’ starring Ajay Devgn has all the ingredients of a mindless masala film. But it does jolt you at regular intervals, for sopping up a 30-year-old formula, proves fatal to your contemporary digestive system! In totality, the film is a typical masala entertainer, as director Sajid Khan would like to put it. You will certainly get entertained only if you had nursed the desire to travel back in time, especially to an era when cinema revolved around a helpless mother-daughter duo and their life-savior ‘Himmatwala’. One and half for the film and half a star more for Paresh Rawal.
Sajid Khan’s “entertainer” ‘Himmatwala’ starring Ajay Devgn has all the ingredients of a mindless masala film. But it does jolt you at regular intervals, for sopping up a 30-year-old formula, proves fatal to your contemporary digestive system! In totality, the film is a typical masala entertainer, as director Sajid Khan would like to put it. You will certainly get entertained only if you had nursed the desire to travel back in time, especially to an era when cinema revolved around a helpless mother-daughter duo and their life-savior ‘Himmatwala’. One and half for the film and half a star more for Paresh Rawal.
Review By: Mohar Basu Site:
What’s Good: The film is exactly as good as its 1983 version. What’s Bad: Un-hilarious stupidity and the tediously long narrative leaves you gasping. Loo break: Just stay in the loo. Don’t bother coming back!. Watch or Not?: Sajid Khan’s Himmatwala is not a remake but a bland spoof devoid of any logic. It is stupid and exhaustingly long. This one is surely a feat, the audiences aren’t supposed to swallow down seriously! Himmatwala demands excessive himmat from the audiences to sustain it through all its exasperating buffoonery laced with dim witted stupidity. Walk out of hall and queue up for the refund Sajid Khan promised you.
What’s Good: The film is exactly as good as its 1983 version. What’s Bad: Un-hilarious stupidity and the tediously long narrative leaves you gasping. Loo break: Just stay in the loo. Don’t bother coming back!. Watch or Not?: Sajid Khan’s Himmatwala is not a remake but a bland spoof devoid of any logic. It is stupid and exhaustingly long. This one is surely a feat, the audiences aren’t supposed to swallow down seriously! Himmatwala demands excessive himmat from the audiences to sustain it through all its exasperating buffoonery laced with dim witted stupidity. Walk out of hall and queue up for the refund Sajid Khan promised you.
Review By: Sneha May Francis Site:
Himmatwala’ is a lesson in ridiculousness, and a painfully long one at that. It blatantly assaults our senses, visual and mental, leaving us severely scarred. In director Sajid Khan’s trademark style, he botches up an already over-the-top 80’s original, by the same title, with innumerable, nonsensical twists and turns. He’s so focused on the buffoonery and dim-witted dialogues, that there’s very little that will tickle you in ‘Himmatwala’. I do know that apart from Sajid, there are many, who might enjoy such frivolity, but for some, who’ve not lost their senses, just yet, this is such a waste of valuable time.Evidently, it takes a brave heart (himmatwala) to endure this one.
Himmatwala’ is a lesson in ridiculousness, and a painfully long one at that. It blatantly assaults our senses, visual and mental, leaving us severely scarred. In director Sajid Khan’s trademark style, he botches up an already over-the-top 80’s original, by the same title, with innumerable, nonsensical twists and turns. He’s so focused on the buffoonery and dim-witted dialogues, that there’s very little that will tickle you in ‘Himmatwala’. I do know that apart from Sajid, there are many, who might enjoy such frivolity, but for some, who’ve not lost their senses, just yet, this is such a waste of valuable time.Evidently, it takes a brave heart (himmatwala) to endure this one.
By: Tushar Joshi Site:
The 80's make a tacky come back in Himmatwala. Yes, the props and the sets are in sync (posters of Madonna from her Like a Virgin days) and the colors are jarring enough to remind us ofDoordarshan's pre telecast static screen days, but despite the trickery and tom foolery, what lacks is the right approach to making a regressive age old story of revenge and justice. Coming from a director who claims to represent majority of the country's audience and hascarved a niche for himself through TV shows, Himmatwala is a sorry excuse for a film.
The 80's make a tacky come back in Himmatwala. Yes, the props and the sets are in sync (posters of Madonna from her Like a Virgin days) and the colors are jarring enough to remind us ofDoordarshan's pre telecast static screen days, but despite the trickery and tom foolery, what lacks is the right approach to making a regressive age old story of revenge and justice. Coming from a director who claims to represent majority of the country's audience and hascarved a niche for himself through TV shows, Himmatwala is a sorry excuse for a film.
Review By: Nabanita Roy Site:
If you are seriously planning for Sajid Khan's Himmatwala this weekend, here's a warning for you - Do not spoil your next two days. This movie has all the ingredients to make you go lunatic. Yes, I'm certainly not exaggerating as I mean it. We understand the need of funny, light-hearted movies these days, amidst our busy schedule, but this (Himmatwala) is more of a torture than any sort of entertainment.On the whole, I would suggest, even if you get a free ticket for Himmatwala, please do not take the risk and give it a big miss. Honestly, I still can't believe that I'm in my fine senses after watching the nonsensical Himmatwala.
If you are seriously planning for Sajid Khan's Himmatwala this weekend, here's a warning for you - Do not spoil your next two days. This movie has all the ingredients to make you go lunatic. Yes, I'm certainly not exaggerating as I mean it. We understand the need of funny, light-hearted movies these days, amidst our busy schedule, but this (Himmatwala) is more of a torture than any sort of entertainment.On the whole, I would suggest, even if you get a free ticket for Himmatwala, please do not take the risk and give it a big miss. Honestly, I still can't believe that I'm in my fine senses after watching the nonsensical Himmatwala.
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