AB Film Corp’s ‘Aks’ is inspired by the Denzel Washington flick ‘Fallen’, a supernatural thriller.

Manu Varma (Amitabh Bachchan) is a daredevil cop who is an ace in VIP security. Out to bump off some big names is Raghavan (Manoj Bajpai) a paid assassin. A demented person, Raghavan has just weaknesses- his brother Madhavan (KK Raina), his girlfriend- a bar dancer Neeta (Raveena Tandon) and killing in cold blood. Manu Varma has a supportive wife Supriya (Nandita Das) and a loving daughter. Raghavan tries to outwit the lawmen but finally has to give in to Manu. He is sentenced to the gallows, but before he could be hanged, he fires upon Manu but is killed in the exchange. His soul now enters Manu’s body thus making him a dual personality. Using Manu’s body as a medium he kills his enemies. The rest of the film comprises of how Manu fights back to get his own life back.

The main drawback of the film is that there are too many repetitions rendering it pretty static. Also each scene is long drawn and continues after making its point. The dialogues too are rather ordinary and repetitive. Technically, this film is comparable to the best in Hollywood.

Rakesh Omprakash Mehra shows technical finesse but lacks narrative skills. The movie begins in Budapest and the initial scenes are absolutely mind-blowing. He relies a lot on visual gimmickry and special effects. Kiran Deohans does a terrific job as the cinematographer and delivers the best images seen in a long, long time. This is probably only his second film after ‘QSQT’. Anu Malik’s music is refreshingly different and Ranjit Barot’s imaginative arrangement makes every eminently listenable.

Amitabh Bachchan once again proves that he is unstoppable making the film watchable. His screen presence even after all these years is simply electric. The overrated Manoj Bajpai tries hard to match up to the Big B but his limitations are exposed. Raveena is good and so is Nandita Das. And pray, who is that non-actor as ACP Arjun Srivastav?

‘Aks’ with its maverick theme will find it tough to sustain itself at the turnstiles specially considering competition like ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Gadar- Ek Prem Katha’.