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FOOTPATH - (Reviewed By Komal Nahta)

Starring: Aftab Shivdasani, Bipasha Basu, Rahul Dev and Emran
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Producer: TIPS Films
Music: Nadeem Shravan

RATING: 2/10

Vishesh Entertainment Ltd.’s Footpath (A) is the story of three childhood friends, two of who (brothers) grow up to join the evil world of drug peddling. The third was an accused in a juvenile murder case and had, therefore, to leave the city. He grows up to become as estate agent but the law catches up with him after many years. A conscientious police officer makes him a decent proposal – either to surrender himself or to pose as a drug peddlar and win the confidence of his two childhood friends to get into their gang.

The ultimate aim of the police inspector is to get to the root of the drug menace and nab the drug lords. He promises to let the two friends go scot-free if they leave the evil world after leading them on to the main culprits. The friend agrees to help the police officer to arrest the drug menace and also thereby get his friends out of the criminal activities of which he doesn’t approve at all. The friend is also obliged towards the two brothers because of a great favour they had done him in their childhood. Along the way, the two brothers realise that their friend is not a drug peddlar he had posed to be and they misunderstand his noble intentions.

Ultimately, even as there is a shocking revelation about the identity of the drug lord, the two brothers are killed by their own partners in crime. There’s also a romantic track of the estate agent with his childhood girlfriend and another of the younger of the two brothers, with a school teacher.

Inspired from the Hollywood film State Of Grace, the Hindi version has a more or less flat script with almost no high point in the drama. If the friendship doesn’t touch the heart, the romantic tracks also fail to involve the viewer emotionally. What, perhaps, is the biggest intrinsic drawback of the script is that this subject-matter has been seen as part of the main plot in several films in the past. Therefore, to make an entire film based on a script which has been done to death already, is not really a smart move.

Moreover, several characters in the film get hysterical for no rhyme or reason. For instance, the estate agent and his girlfriend keep crying on several occasions but the audience is just not able to sympathise with them because their pain/anguish does not come across. In short, Mahesh Bhatt’s scripting leaves tons to be desired! Besides, everything moves on the predictable track, thereby robbing the drama of excitement and shock value.

While the story and screenplay are truly dull, some dialogue (Girish Dhamija) are meaningful and help convey more than the scenes.

Aftab Shivdasani, as the estate agent who poses as a drug peddlar to help the police as well as to pull his two friends out of the rotten world, does a fine job and has his moments of drama. Emraan Hashmi makes an impressive debut and endears himself to the viewer with his free acting. The boy has the spark and the potential and can make a definite mark if he picks up the right films.

Bipasha Basu is fair but tends to overact in some scenes. Rahul Dev has an important role but he doesn’t get more than a couple of scenes to prove his acting prowess. He does reasonably well. Aparna Tilak is no heroine material but she is beautifully restrained. Irfaan Khan is natural as usual. Anup Soni is efficient as the conscientious police inspector. The four child actors – Mazhar, Yash, Nikhil and Sheena – are cute and natural. Kannan, as Anup Soni’s assistant, leaves a mark. Anupama Verma, Arif Zakaria, Suresh Singh and others are fair.

Vikram Bhatt’s direction is alright. Given the lacklustre script, there was hardly anything more one could expect of a director. However, he needs to take part of the blame too since a director ought to be half a script-writer himself. Nadeem Shravan’s music is extremely melodious. All the songs are beautifully tuned and have a lilting quality about them. Himesh Reshammiya’s ‘item’ number, ‘Aaiyave’, is also a superb song. Pravin Bhatt’s camerawork is pretty effective as always. Action (Abbas Ali Moghul) scenes have been well composed, keeping in view the mood of the film. Gappa Chakraborty’s basti set is very good.

On the whole, Footpath is a dry and dull fare and has average chances at the ticket-windows. Its only saving grace is its low cost, most of which would have already been recovered from non-theatrical revenues.

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RELEASE DATE: 15th August 2003

REVIEWED BY KOMAL NAHTA