Garv: Pride and Honour
July. 09,2004About to retire, police inspector Samar Singh changes his mind when he discovers that a recently elected official has ties with the underworld.
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Reviews
Some things I liked some I did not.
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Back in those days, Salman Khan was a highly popular star, and to his credit he had hardly been part of those big-budget films made by Chopra, Ghai and the likes. Khan is a good entertainer, and a great strength of his is that he never seemed to consider himself a particularly good actor, neither did he really pretend to take the acting part of acting too close to heart. It was all about a good presence and a likably honest persona. In this film he actually does seem to try to show the opposite, but sadly he never manages to turn it into something particularly special since the film is not very good in the first place. Khan apparently just doesn't have the right flair for choosing the right movies. This is the same age old story of pride and honour, love and sacrifice, principles and values, rape and revenge, and they hardly ever ring true. They could have, had they been tackled by a more competent and imaginative writer or director. But the result is a stale, highly outdated film which doesn't work in spite of Khan's presence. The story lacks any possible depth and conviction. Then we have the usual heroine, played by Shilpa Shetty, whose appearance is basically restricted to the lavish songs. Speaking of songs, there's a nice number called "Hum Tumko Nigahon Mein". The action scenes are not that bad, relatively speaking, but they are typically exaggerated and all stretched out, just like the film itself.
Garv is a story of three brave, honest and dutiful cops Arjun Ranawat, Samar Singh and Haider Ali Khan. Samar Singh wants the state to be a crime free state with the help of encounter specialist Arjun Ranawat and Haider Ali's team force. But they can't help him because the powerful politician Kashinath Trivedi, Yeshwant Pandey etc. made the state corrupted by staying connected with the underworld don Zafar Supari. Salman's role as a serious encounter specialist Arjun Ranwat is a good ingredient of the movie. After a long long time Salman figured out himself in such a serious role with no-nonsense manner, which previously he made habit in David Dhawan's directions. He could have become a good role model for the entire policemen if the movie did better than a below average (as per box-office report) outcome. But Shilpa Shetty's role here seems out of requirement as she had no much role to impress the audience just than a bar dancer and later a housewife. Last but not the least, Garv walks in the same route to Sarfarosh but the carriage is not as strong and normal as the latter one.
Salman plays Arjun Ranawat, Inspector is a terror to the underworld. The underworld has tried time and again to get rid of him, but has failed.Amrish Puri plays a Sr. Inspector samar Singh who is a very honest. When Samar comes to know that Kashinath Trivedi has won the election, he puts his resignation. The reason being Kashinath Trivedi is a corrupt politician and has got underworld connection too.Zafar Supari played by Mukesh Rishi, the self-declared king of underworld is delighted too as he is happy that he can reign again. Though Samar Singh resigns from his job, two honest police officers Arjun Ranawat and Hyder Ali (Arbaaz Khan) are the thorns in their path. They won't allow Kashinath Trivedi and Zafar Supari sit in peace. They try the usual method of divide and rule among them in which Hyder Ali is killed. The blame is put on Arjun Ranawat who is suspended from his duty. Trial continues against him in connection with Hyder's murder as well as his alleged affair with his sister too played by a small time actress Akshanksha. How Salman defends his case and proves his innocence is the story of the movie. He also has to take revenge of Hyder Ali'e murder.Anupam Kher plays the role of Tyagi, a lawyer who defends cases against Zafar Supari and Kashinath Trivedi. All the characters are good and justified their role. Directed by Puneet Issar, for a change Salman has acted very well.
The story is presented in an interesting timeframe. The opening scene shows a mob of people booing Salman as he goes to jail after a mass murder of politicians. The majority of the story takes place in a flashback showing how corruption dominates politics and the police force. Salman and his partner Arbaaz's heroic efforts to bring peace to Mumbai reach several steps to success but also to tragic failure and sacrifice. There's also an interesting segment based on religious prejudice in the government. Salman and Arbaaz's innovate concept of an "encounter team" sparks immense shock and controversy in the city. The entire story boils down to the climactic court case of Salman, which has several interesting elements to it. The Khan brothers give a good performance. Shilpa's role is very miniscule and meaningless.