'Ghayal Once Again' review: An idealistic film that exudes sincerity

Rating: ***

Genre: Drama

Cast: Sunny Deol, Narendra Jha, Soha Ali Khan, Om Puri

Director: Sunny Deol

Language: Hindi

It's been 26 years since we first saw one of most iconic revenge dramas, "Ghayal". This sequel marks the action-packed comeback of Sunny Deol and his extremely famous 'dhai kilo ka haath'. After teaching Balwant Rai and his henchmen a lesson back then, vigilante Ajay Mehra (Deol) has returned to fight the corrupt system and this time round, he brings a shrewd businessman Bansal (Jha) and his accomplices to justice.

"In Ghayal Once Again", Mehra is running an investigative newspaper that seeks truth, not business. Which is why four college kids hand him over the footage of a murder that they accidentally recorded. However, the road ahead is not as easy since influential people are involved.

Deol manages to retain the essence of Santoshi's blockbuster, even as he gives it a contemporary twist. The good old dialogues are in sync with the hand-to-hand combat scenes, but it also makes room for modern advances like the digitisation of today's world.

Though this outing is not as emotionally engaging as the original, the film delivers on its promise of action. Deol carries a lot of the film's weight, but others like Soha Ali Khan and the teenagers have also acted well and carried their roles ably.

Nonetheless, a few things grate. The trademark Ghayal background score is altered and makes it sound a lot like Mission Impossible. The dialogues are also hamfisted and laden with messages that come across too preachy. And while the flashback scenes look flat-out juvenile, the father daughter scenes are on the sappy side.

Thankfully though, despite the flaws, Deol's idealistic film manages to exude a sincerity and walks to the home run with it. So when he says, "If you mess with us, we will find you and we will punch you", you can't help but root for him.

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