Blank Review: Karan Kapadia’s debut, starring Sunny Deol is crisp and action-packed

Star Rating:

It’s a wounded, pained, brutalised, tearful Karan Kapadia whose visual assaults your senses in the opening scene of Blank. He looks ready to explode – literally. Cut to 12 hours earlier. As the plot unfolds, the mysterious Karan gets into an accident as he is rushing through the busy Mumbai streets. At the hospital, it is discovered that he is a suicide bomber and has a bomb attached externally to his chest and wired internally to his heart. He is the trigger to detonate and to defuse the bomb.

ATS Chief Dewan (a convincing Sunny Deol) and his squad of agents and the police are racing against time. Some excellent police detective work reveals the smuggling of 25 kilos of lethal explosives into the city. Gruelling grilling goes in vain since Karan has lost his memory. His lucid flashes are few and unhelpful to the police. He does remember fire, and being called by his name – Hanif.

What Blank is all about: Having a suicide bomber literally land on their laps, puts the Mumbai ATS on a ticking time bomb literally and deadline wise. Who is he? Where is he from? Who is his handler? How many others are involved in this plot? Are there many more suicide bombers wandering the city? How much more explosive has infiltrated the city? Karan Kapadia plays the suicide bomber in this unconventional debut vehicle, whilst Sunny Deol answers his seniors and inspires his juniors to get to the bottom and unearth all the intel they can. Karan (Hanif) seems to be a man on a mission, all the same as ATS Chief Dewan. What is Hanif’s motivation, and what is his endgame? Will Dewan be able to stop him from a crazed, destructive rampage that might kill thousands of innocents?

Yay: Karan Kapadia comes across as a strong, confident protagonist, matching the steadfastness of a veteran like Sunny Deol in equal stride. Moreover, his body language is fluid and easy, and yes, he seems to be able to cry at will. And despite all his tough, intense machoism, manages to convey sensitivity in his tears. Sunny Deol’s fans will be thrilled to see him in this good cop role. He balances it with that trademark Deol emotional streak (as in real and reel life always) in the scenes dealing with his beloved but wayward son’s brush with drugs. His restrained aggression is in direct balance to Karan’s almost deranged show of brute strength in the action scenes. As Sunny’s teammates, Ishita Dutta and Karanvir Sharma are suitably impressive. Jameel Khan as the rabid, rabble-rousing Maqsood,  dalla-turned-divine-messenger is good enough to hate.

Director Behzad Khambata seems to know exactly what he wants to portray with each scene and character. Some excellent action executed by action and stunt director – Vikram Dahiya, and great background score (Rhitwik Raj Pathak) keeps the pace pulsating. For the crisp editing of this story, reining it in at a 111 minutes, credit goes to film editor Sanjay Sharma. Shooting at real locations in the underbelly of this maximum city keeps the happenings looking real too, with Rajinder Sharma’s production design. R Dee’s cinematography makes a lot of the action look larger than life.

And yes, the Ali Ali song featuring Akshay Kumar and Karan Kapadia is literally fantastic. That song is who this bunch of boys making this film is. It seemed like a far-fetched idea, but the concept by Pradeep Atluri, and the writing by Pranav Adarsh and Behzad himself, and Behzad’s execution render it reasonably believable. Wait for the twists.

Nay: The selection and training of poor, young and impressionable Muslim children and youth, pressed into the cause of Jihad, with the promise of Jannat (Paradise), whilst politicians, extremists, and Islamic fundamentalists play mind games with them is achieved in one powerful scene, albeit a tad loudly done. And yes, this film is not for the faint-hearted due to an incredible amount of sheer violence.

Cine Blitz Verdict: If action movies and thrillers rock your boat, head straight to the cinema halls and see Blank! Sunny Deol will always be the beloved of the masses. And Karan Kapadia would do just as great in an intense romance, that’s our gut feeling.