Brothers

Bollywood’s official remake of Hollywood’s ‘Warrior’ (2011) reveals, yet again, just how inept and ridiculous most of its ‘masala’ movies remain. David (Akshay Kumar) is a mature middle-class married teacher who decides to supplement his meagre income in order to pay for expensive medical treatment for his ill daughter. He takes up street fighting and enters the international ‘R2F’ (‘Right to Fight’) championship, which is being held in Mumbai, bent on winning the prize money.

It turns out that Monty’s opponent in the ring is his estranged half-brother Monty (Sidharth Malhotra). Since these two ‘crazy buggers’ are expected to fight until one of them kills the other, will brotherly love prevail? Hard to care as director Karan Malhotra inflicts blow after blow upon his audience’s sensibilities. The extremely violent action sequences have operatic aspirations but are so clumsily and poorly edited that they end up being laughable. The hammy acting is even funnier, with all actors shouting and grimacing.

Worst of all is the Bolly bad habit of crude stereotyping: Indian Christians are drunks; Muslim men wear heavy eyeliner, etc. Add a pointless and embarrassingly awful ‘item’ dance number by an ageing but still ‘A’-list actress and the whole thing smacks of desperation. If you manage to sit though the entire 158 minutes of this inane tale, you'll be the one emerging bruised and battered.