Story

As the title suggests, Brothers is about sibling rivalry. David (Akshay Kumar) and Monty (Sidharth Malhotra) are brothers with some strong rivalry. Bothered from their childhood they go for the fight that has long been awaited, fierce and strong. One of them is in the arena for the money that could save his ailing daughter; the other is in the game to redeem his alcoholic father, the man at the root of all their troubles. The backstory: A dissolute, drunk (Jackie Shroff), Fighter father and large-hearted loving woman as a mother (Shah) sure makes one empathise. So are the fight scenes. Responding to the pressure of his drunk dad to give direction to his anger, Monty seems all set to take on his brother, David Fernandes (Akshay Kumar), when Mary interrupts the flow. David now is a settled and loved physics teacher, lives away from the din with his wife Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandes) and a little daughter who has weak kidneys which drain David’s financial resources. He has left the fighting days past behind, but the memories of his fighting days under the tutelage of his father Garson Fernandes (Jackie Shroff) are still flashing.

Analysis :

The good: As a matter of fact, this might be the first time that fight sequences had such extensive detailing of a high-tech arena, glittering with bright lights, deafening spectators, foreign fighters, excitable commentators (Zutshi) in Bollywood. While most of it has a look and feel of WWF and Hollywood fight flicks, the hooded faces, the slow motions, uniformed assistants marching up the ramp, the beats all are in place and adds a grandeur to the boxing sequences.

The bad: Well, there particularly isn’t a point when you think things are bad in the movie as you will never be able to differentiate between the good parts. Yes, that does mean there are no scenes except plain boxing sequences. The background score rocks the theatres with unnecessary instrumentation. Warning, Carry your earplugs or insure your ear drums.

Performance :

Both leading men (Siddharth and Akshay) are well toned and muscled with their wrapped fists and feet: Akshay’s acting imbibed with experience is top notch and this `mixed martial arts’ makes his role in the ring believable and the fighter in him is a delight to watch; the much more buff Sidharth too efficiently pulls off what it is required, though his acting is a little stale.

And just as abruptly, an item number by Kareena Kapoor Khan which is so generic pops up. The expressions and ‘thumkas’ look like a déjà vu from her previous ones, or maybe they are ripped off from her previous ones, you wouldn’t know. The first half is as bad as the second half. The parts of over action will shake you off. The melodrama makes you crazy.

Final Word:

Brothers on the whole fails to impress. It could be considered a bad remake for the people who have already watched the original version.