ANTIM: THE FINAL TRUTH Outdated action film is firmly stuck in a bygone era
AFTER unsuccessfully trying to launch his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma as a hero with flop 2018 film Loveyatri: A Journey of Love, Salman Khan has made another attempt by producing and co-starring in this Bollywood remake of successful Marathi action-drama Mulshi Pattern.
The story revolves around a young man who is forced onto the wrong side of the law and quickly rises up to become a fearsome gangster. He gets deeply involved in violence, power, and an unforgiving underworld. It isn’t long before he is caught up in the crossfire of rival gangs, a painful past and a tough police officer, who is trying to clean up the city with his own unique methods.
The story, characters and preachy dialogues for this action-drama seem like they have been plucked from another era of Hindi cinema, which makes this film come across as outdated. Instead of raising the level of what was a lower-budget original, the flashy remake waters down the story and spends more time on style than actual substance. So, there are more shots of intense looks, muscles, and nice scenery than an actual story that keeps you interested. A lot of that blames goes to Mahesh Manjrekar, and this film adds to the endless list of terrible films he has directed since his one big success in 1999, with Vaastav: The Reality. He attempts to copy elements of past films like Vaastav unsuccessfully in this messy film that slowly starts to unravel. Bollywood buffs can play a game to spot how elements are borrowed from other films. Aayush Sharma shows a lot more potential with this film than he did with his debut and displays an impressive intensity, but still needs to work on his acting.
A one-dimensional Salman Khan just kind of goes through the motions in a film that is around 25 minutes too long. Ultimately, Antim: The Final Truth seems aimed at the masses in rural India, but even they will know it is a poor copy of action films from a bygone era and offers nothing new. Watch it with lowered expectations or better still, find the original of which it is a remake.