Circa 1982- Deadly boxing ring of 'Main Intequam Loonga', a young Dharmendra punches hard as fighting boxer to avenge his biological father's death. The stereotyped "filmi" revenge formula gets new make-over in the boxing ring. Circa 2007 - Dharmendra, now an aging father of two bright sons, wants to redeem the lost esteem in the boxing world by visualizing his dreams in his son's glory and success. Boxing, the violently playful sport is mainly associated with machismo, virility, strength and sturdiness in the leading men of celluloid world.

In Hollywood, this violent and brutal sport fancied for decades in films like 'Rocky', 'Ali', 'Rocky Balboa' and 'Cinderella Man'. Even in Bollywood, the sport of boxing has been largely associated with actors with sturdy machismo image. Dharmendra, the first official "he-man" of the tinsel town, was the first to give it a major on-screen boost in 80's with 'Main Intequaam Loonga'. Then it was Mithun Chakraborty's histrionics in 'Boxer' but thereafter there was a long silence till an average grosser 'Aryan-Unbreakable' made its mark at the box office last year.

Filmmaker Anil Sharma's directorial career rose to fame with Dharmendra in action-packed thriller 'Hukumat'. The successful phase continued with films like 'Tehelka', 'Farishtay' and 'Elaan-e-Jung', all featuring Dharmendra in the main lead. Sharma shifted his attention to Sunny Deol and gave his career the biggest hit 'Gadar - Ek Prem Katha' followed by average grosser 'The Hero'. Lastly, he went on to make 'Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon' featuring Bobby Deol along with Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar in lead roles.

In 'Apne', he changes his name from Anil Sharma to Anil "Gadar" Sharma and tries to collage all the positive elements from the entire Deol clan. 'Apne', a family saga is a story of relationships, dreams of a father and his sons, each having his own desires, aspirations and hopes.

Anil Sharma has made the film in an extreme melodramatic and violently passionate way. The film depends heavily on melodrama (aging father failing in his ambition) and extensively choreographed violent boxing bouts. If one has a digestion limit of viewing excessive violent on-screen then 'Apne' is a good treat to watch. The director has got the technical expertise of specialized boxing choreographer (Chris Anderson) for the job. In terms of quality presentation, the film succeeds to a large extent but alienates female and family crowds due to an overdose of violence in it. click for larger view.

'Apne' has proved a re-launching vehicle for veteran Dharmendra as the film completely belongs to him in all respects. Anil Sharma has showered all his respect for the veteran actor and has delivered it with full confidence. Baldev Singh Choudhary (Dharmendra), a talented boxing champion, wins a silver medal at Olympics and makes India proud of his monumental feat. Baldev's biggest dream was to make history by becoming India's first World Heavyweight Champion.

His dreams shatter and make his heart and soul bleed forever. During World Heavy Weight Championship, the betting mafia conspires against him and gets doping charges leveled against him. So, he is barred from boxing for many years. For a spirited sportsman like him, nothing can be more blasphemous then being charged with doping. He wants to fight this stigma by training his elder son Angad (Sunny Deol) in the sport and dreams of making him a World Heavyweight Champion.

Angad prefers to make his career in agriculture to boxing for monetary and family reasons. Baldev shares a love-hate relationship with him. Karan (Bobby Deol), the younger son of Baldev Singh, nurses an ambition of making big in the musical arena than in the boxing ring. Though Karan is handicapped ( left hand ) but still he is full of life and has love interest, Nandini (Katrina Kaif). Baldev chooses a young aspirant boy Gaurav (Aryan Vaid) and trains him for championship.

Baldev is emotionally shattered when Gaurav changes his coach and prefers an Australian coach. The emotionally tormented Baldev gets upset but by virtue of luck, Karan wins over his handicap. Now, Baldev trains Karan and prepares him for boxing championship. Once again Baldev faces the evil of match fixing and refuses to give up against the might of deadly boxing champion Lucas. Lucas cheats Karan in the final boxing match resulting in his liver failure. Angad prepares for revenge and fights his way out and wins Baldev's pride back with full honor.

When it comes to two Deols (Sunny and Bobby), their histrionics have been mainly limited to boxing and its adventures. Bobby's role in the first half is half-baked and all the early soundtracks choreographed on him are ineffective. The sudden rise of a handicapped musician boy (Bobby Deol) to the supremacy in boxing world is too "filmi" and planted. The struggling fighter in him lacks the desired fire and his caricature of a great musical whiz kid holds no significance in the film's narration. Even Himesh Reshammiya's concert rock songs end up as filler in the film execution.

Sunny Deol plays an underdog, an estranged son who fails to fulfill his father's dreams but succeeds in his endeavors. The relationship between Dharmendra and Sunny Deol is similar to what Dilip Kumar had with Amitabh Bachchan in Mushir Riaz's 'Shakti'. The overdose of melodrama in the first half retards the interest of the viewers. Despite all sobbing and morose emotions, the film bank heavily on Dharmendra's acting skills.

'Apne's biggest drawback is its over-stretched duration (almost three hours) and the glorified but impressive boxing scenes. Since boxing has never been India's pride so its action-packed endeavors will have limited takers. Chris Anderson (boxing expert for the film) deserves full marks for drawing quality work from all the three Deols. As predicted, 'Apne' has rustic backdrop of Punjab and it has it cultural flavors in its narration.

The film works especially for the North Indian belt (especially Punjabi speaking regions) as it has the likes of comedian Bhagwant Mann in it. Even Amar Singh, leader of Samajwadi Party and close family friend of Amitabh Bachchan, makes a guest appearance in the film.

Kiron Kher delivers another commendable performance of a typical "Punjabi" mother after her impressive act in films like 'Rang De Basanti' and 'Hum Tum'. She is rich in emotions and is brilliant to the core in comical timing. Kiron Kher is worthy choice for the role and she delivers it with full grace. It was delightful to see Victor Banerjee making significance appearance in commercial mainstream cinema as he has been largely associated with parallel cinema.

Victor Banerjee plays an important "sutradhar" (anchor) who narrates all the happenings in the film. Aryan Vaid makes his most prominent performance after being relegated to sleazy acts in 'B'grade films. In spite of playing a sidekick he shares major share in the content of the film. Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif have miniscule roles to contribute and have been largely used as glam dolls. Shilpa Shetty plays a mature housewife who shares moments of pride, joy and sorrow in the family who lives with their ambitions, dreams and hopes.

There are couples of sentimental sequences but overall she has limited role . Katrina Kaif looks more like a ramp model than a doctor but her ravishing looks are the other major highlights. The porcelain beauty has been a newsmaker since her arrival. Katrina deserved better characterization as she was the most bankable star in the entire clan.

Director Anil Sharma along with writer Neeraj Pathak delivers an original script but the film fails like 'Gadar-Ek Prem Katha' or 'Hukumat' setting the screen on fire. Though Bollywood still needs to learn the art of making sport adventure films , 'Apne' is a decent and bright work in its genre.

In recent times, all films made with sport centric theme have failed , yet 'Apne' has succeeded by resting on emotions and human values. 'Apne' promises above average openings because of its rich face value and lack of any big entertainer in the marquee after the supreme disaster of 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom'.

The film may not be a blockbuster by any standard, but will be an impressive money spinner in its first weekend.