The movie revolves around two families. The first is that of Shekhar(Akshay Kumaar). A happy and chirpy cook who lives with his parents. Shekhar has a doting wife Dr.Kavita(Bhumika Chawla) who he loves dearly and a brattish younger brother Aryan(Aryeman Ramsay) for whom Shekhar would turn the world upside down.
On the other hand is Viren Sahai(Amitabh Bachchan). A powerful crimelord who along with his son Abir(Sushant Singh) are wanted by the police and other underworld dons but they cannot be touched as Viren is the most feared player in the game. Virens family consists of his wife (Shernaz Patel) as well as his daughter, daughter-in-law and little grandson but Viren stays overseas mainly as his wife doesn't agree with his line of work.
How do the fate of these two families collide? Another underworld don Karim Bhai(Kader Khan) gets a "supari" to kill Viren Sahai and his son. After a failed attempt Viren decides to go back to Mumbai and settle the score with Karim. He attacks Karim in a movie cinema and one of the bullets that come from his gun hits Shekhar and kills him!
Aryan is unable to cope with the death of his beloved brother and swears revenge. With the help of his friends Aryan kidnaps each of Virens family members and starts thirsting for Viren Sahais blood. The showdown is set for the war between two family members...both of whom are willing to kill and die for their family! Who wins? FAMILY provides the answers.
In terms of a story writer Shaktimaan writes a vendetta plot which is directly lifted fromthe numerous revenge based films that came out in the 80's. The story has been witnessed a 100 times before and offers the viewer nothing new or novel. This comes as a major surprise given that a Raj Kumar Santoshi film usually has a powerful storyline be it GHAYAL, GHATAK, DAMINI, PUKAAR, LAJJA , TLOBS or KHAKEE. Shaktimaan may've got all the commercial elements right when writing the story for the Blockbuster GADAR-Ek Prem Katha....but since then he has yet to give another worthy story! FAMILY is just old wine packaged in a new bottle as far as the story is concerned.
In terms of a screenplay Shridhar Raghavan(KHAKEE) and Santoshi himself do a mixed job. Parts of the movie are superbly done with some spellbinding scenes while others come across as slipshod and rushed. The entire first half of the movie is well canned and sets the scene perfectly for the revenge scenario although it is VERY VERY hard to believe that such a wanted gangsters family can be kidnapped so easily by a bunch of novices.The second half too is relentless and keeps the viewer hooked(though not orignal the treatment is efficient) but its the last part of the movie which comes totally undone. The entire sequence after the death of Shernaz Patel the movie just totally loses track. One wished that the screenplay had been worked on with more care-specially given Shridhar Raghavans record with films like KHAKEE and BLUFFMASTER.
As a director this is Raj Kumar Santoshis most poor effort to date. Santoshi definetly belongs to the old school style of film making complete with comedy, drama, action, emotion, and above all a good meaty storyline and some mindblowing/award worthy dialogues that never fall short of a thunderous response. However FAMILY lacks all of this. Yes-the film definetly belongs to the old school type of film making but the instead of given it the much needed Santoshi stamp the film ends up looking like a stale 80's product. The idea and theme behind the story is great-a gangster who has killed 100's of people over the years is given time to reflect back on his life and family as someone seeks revenge back on him but the gangster can't figure out who and above all WHY? The treatment just falls short and fails to deliver on the goods.
There are certain scenes which are superbly canned like
Akshay Kumars death and funeral scene Amitabh Bachchan and Shernaz Patel having a fight Amitabh Bachchan revisiting his old house again and walking through memory lane When Amitabh and Aryeman finally meet face to face.
But these scenes are too far and few in between. Did Santoshi do the movie as a quick favour for Keshu Ramsay just to launch Aryeman? Was there interference along the way like Firoz Nadiadwala and AAN-Men At Work? It seems so as FAMILY definetly seems like a half hearted effort from the director. The climax of the movie is a HUGE letdown. The entire sequence with Amitabh in the police station and his showdown with Sushant just doesn't quiet hit the right notes and the end of the movie just leaves the viewer feeling disapointed and confused. The movie starts off as a film about a man taking revenge on the man who killed his brother but ends up as a gangster whose son turns on him? Santoshi fails to merge these two stories together! !Neverthess I still have faith in Raj Kumar Santoshi and will forgive him. Hopefully FAMILY is a one-off mistake Mr Santoshi!
In terms of performances the movie is a mixed bag!
Amitabh Bachchan is good in his part, but given the expectations from Bachchan after a Award Worthy performance in Santoshis KHAKEE as well as some truly mindblowing performances in films like BLACK and SARKAR one would've expected something truly brilliant here, but sadly not. Amitabh plays his part as a cold blooded killer as well as a gangster reflecting on his life perfectly and with the right expressions. As always Bachchans screen presence and delivery is FANTASTICBut I felt that the much needed fire that is associated with a Bachchan performance was missing-part of that can be blamed on his characterisation which is weakly sketched. Some have said the makers have tried to justify the character of a villan here into a semi good guy just because Amitabh is playing the role but I don't think thats true at all. Bachchans Viren Sahai is a GREY character neither black nor white. If Vijay Chauhan from AGNEEPATH had lived on he might've become the Viren Sahai FAMILY but sadly none of this is ever explored.
Akshay Kumar is his usual dependable self giving a extremely likeable performance. But please note that this is nothing more than an extended GUEST PERFORMANCE. Akshay Kumar barely has 20 minutes of footage here including his usual trademark comic sequences(still the impact is brilliant and Kumar is damn funny) as well as a extended fight sequence where Akshay kicks some butt. His death is no doubt the turning point in the film, but one wonders why is Akshay being so heavily promoted? Seems like once again the makers of the film have publicised in on Akshay Kumars popularity. Akki fans will be FUMING. I kept wondering what it would've been like if Amitabh killed Aryeman and it was Akshay who took revenge?...hmmm
Aryeman Ramsay makes his debut and gives a fairly credible performance. He is good in his part but very VERY raw. This is hardly a compliment as Santoshi can make a piece of wood act!!! The actor doesn't make the conventional debut and it is evident the emphasis here is to showcase Aryemans dramatic and action skills but it is just way too early for Aryeman to take on such a intense role for his first film, specially to be cast alongside Amitabh and Akshay! Aryeman has a good voice, but needs to brush up on his delivery and definetly his looks as he ends up looking more like the villan Rajat Bedi if anything. However he does manage to surprise the viewer I guess in the dramatic and action scenes and comes across as endearing and confident.
The supporting cast in a Santoshi are always extremely powerful and at times give the best performance in the movie...sadly FAMILY lacks support from a decent supporting cast too!
Bhumika Chawla is superb in her part. The actress has lost weight and looks delicious in the song sequences and emotes very well too with her eyes. Her scene with Amitabh is noteworthy and she impresses.
Shernaz Patel too is good in her part and the scene she shares with Amitabh is well executed.
Sushant Singh overacts completely in a poorly written character. Given the actors immense talent and how Santoshi utilised him in TLOBS this is a weak character and a pathetic performance.
Kader Khan is his usual self-one expecting some kind of verbal showdown between Kader Khan and Amitabh will be disapointed as Santoshi hasn't tapped into Kader Khans talent at all.
Gulshan Grover is his usual self. Anjan Srivastav is efficient in his part and plays it very well.
Dialogues in a Santoshi film are usually what gets the thunderous applause from the viewer. Be it Sunny Deols wild cries in GHAYAL and GHATAK, his courtroom battle in DAMINI, Anil Kapoors patriotic verbose in PUKAAR, Ajay Devgans stirring dialogues in TLOBS or Amitabh rousing lines in KHAKEE---there is no 2 ways about it. But FAMILY(shock horror) doesn't even have the much needed firepacked dialogues that Santoshi films are so famous for. Dialogues by Tigmanshu Dhulia and Santoshi are good and thats it.
Technically the film is a slick product. Cinematography by Ashok Mehta is FANTASTIC as always and Mehta really captures the mood of the film well. The sequence where Bachchan revisits his old home specially is just stunning as far as lighting, colours and camerawork goes!
Abbas Ali Moghuls action scenes are as expected although at times they feel a bit stale.
Music by Ram Sampat is also below the mark with the exception of QATRA QATRA which has been superbly picturised. The rest of the other 4 songs are all packed into the first half one after the other and the songs with Aryeman were not needed-he is a below average dancer and it is clear that the songs were just there to showcase Aryemans dancing and thats it. Definetly a speedbreaker.
On the other hand Ram Sampats background music was just wicked. Glad to see Santoshi still has his pulse on the finger as far as background scores go.
All up where does that leave FAMILY? Disappointing...very disappointing! But definetly NOT one of the worst movies ever made or anything like that. The movie comes across as a huge disappointment only given the expectations surrounding the movie. One expected something a lot more intelligent and thought provoking from Santoshi. The film can easily be viewed once as mindless action film but make sure you keep your expectations very LOW. Fans of Akshay and even Amitabh(to an lesser extent) will be disappointed here.
Final Rating: * * ¾
