You draw a blank here!

Nonika Singh

Before you start wondering what is BJP’s latest  star candidate and one of our favourite heroes Sunny Deol doing in a film that talks of Gujarat riots among other things, take a chill pill. In short, don’t take anything seriously even though the subject at hand is dead serious. 

Terrorism, the sub-continent knows too well, is no laughing matter. And on celluloid, threat of terror coupled with counter terrorism operation should ideally make for a nail-biting thriller. 

Alas, Blank isn’t what it seems. On the surface, it is about a suicide bomber Hanif (Karan Kapadia), expectedly a victim of riots. With a bomb implanted on his body he finds his way to a hospital, only to be apprehended by the police who don’t quite know what do with a human bomb. Before they can defuse the situation, the more demonic powers at work come into action. Thus begins a wild-goose chase led, of course, by Sunny Deol playing the no-nonsense well meaning ATS chief SS Dewan. 

Indeed, Blank opens with a flourish. A man in shackles is a sitting duck and is about to be shot. On the other side of the frame stands Sunny Deol whose branded sunglasses greet us before we catch a glimpse of the hero. Despite the twists and turns, attempts to induce adrenaline rush fall flat. Action abounds for sure. Young actor Kapadia acts like one-man army and dhaai kilo ka haath flexes his muscles too. But for one scene where we see the trademark expression of Sunny bhaaji, all anger and fire uttering bombastically, ‘uska baap bhi bolega’, the actor is restrained, which we don’t know is a good thing or bad. 

Actually picking up the good points in this film is tad too difficult. Still we can try. The debutant Karan Kapadia makes an unconventional entry into tinsel town, doesn’t get to sing songs or romance a heroine. But yes in the end credits, he shakes a leg with no less than Akshay Kumar, who in case you didn’t know happens to be his brother-in-law. Ahem, to put it simply Karan is a nephew of Dimple Kapadia. But neither the superstar’s presence nor Sunny’s star quotient can salvage the narrative that is at best confused and worse still, tepid. 

What you carry home are fragmented montages. Just as Hanif is tormented by images of his past, you are by the writer and director’s superficial understanding of terrorism and formulaic representation of Muslims. Even though through hatemonger Maqsood (Jameel Khan), who brainwashes young boys and runs a terror factory, the director tells us how terrorism is no more than business in the garb of religion. The film does try to reverse the damage somewhere close to the climax which reminds you of a certain A Wednesday. Only unlike the gripping Neeraj Pandey film, Blank leaves you with an empty feeling.

nonikasingh@tribunemail.com