Apne makes for painful, melodramatic watch

THUMBS DOWN: Apne disguises itself as a sports film though it abuses the very spirit of sportsmanship.

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Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Katrina Kaif

Direction: Anil Sharma

The worst thing you can do to an actor is make him look like an ass. Which is why I think the three male leads of Apne are probably gunning for director Anil Sharma's blood.

Apne, which opens at cinemas this week, features yesteryear's star Dharmendra as a former world boxing champion who was banned from the sport after being falsely framed under doping charges.

Much to his disappointment, his elder son (played by Sunny Deol) decides not to take up the sport professionally, and opts instead for a more practical career.

Daddy dearest, who was hoping to realize his own unfulfilled ambitions through his elder son, is dismayed naturally, but turns his attention to his younger son, (played by Bobby Deol), who's only just recovered from a childhood injury, but seems happy nevertheless to enter the ring.

Under the able tutelage of his father, Beta Number Two fast becomes a boxing star and makes his way to the finals of an international championship in the US , but sadly that's just as far as he can make it, defeated as he is by reigning champion Luca Gracia who uses dishonourable means to beat him.

It is now the turn of Bade Bhaiyya to avenge his younger sibling's unfair defeat and near-death thrashing.

So Beta Number One spends a month in training, then enters the ring to take on his brother's nemesis.

That gesture alone, and his subsequent victory, redeems him in the eyes of his father who'd never really forgiven him in all these years.

Evidently it's the fact that Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol appear together for the first time on screen, that is the main highlight of Apne, but how you wish the family had chosen a better film to do the honours with.

To make a film for the sake of it, is one of the worst things you can do. A film should be made because you've got a great story to tell.

Sadly, this is no great story. In fact, it's a melodramatic piece that's about thirty years too late.