KRRISH 3 - REVIEW

If I had to pick my favourite superhero film of this year, I'd definitely consider Thor: The Dark World, I'd sadly dismiss Iron Man 3 and I certainly wouldn't even think about The Wolverine.

In the end, though, I'd pick Krrish 3.

How this franchise went from an awful E.T. meets Forrest Gump cheese-fest for the kiddos to a full-blown action franchise with mutants and superheroes is beyond me. Following in the footsteps of Robot and Ra.One, Krrish 3 is yet another bat-shit insane sci-fi Bollywood blockbuster that's super-long but super-fun. While not as gloriously out-there as Robot, Krrish 3 is an overall more rewarding experience than Ra.One which spent way too much time setting up its simplistic plot and not enough time being crazy-awesome. Though that opening sequence was all kinds of genius. Krrish 3 follows our hero (played by Hrithik Roshan) as he faces a new threat, a wheelchair-bound supervillain called Kaal (a brilliant Vivek Oberoi) whose plan it is to send out deadly viruses all over the world and sell the antidotes thereby making millions, nay, billions! Oh, and he's also testing out experiments to get him to walk but in the process he's creating a race of "Manimals": half men (or women), half animals, all badass. You've got a scorpion chick, a chameleon gal, some toad fella and whatever the others were meant to be. The first big action sequence sees Krrish save a plane from crashing by jumping from building to building then bouncing to the plane's wheels and holding the whole thing steady on his back. It's ridiculously over-the-top (and expensive) but it's totally worth it.

This goes for mindless X-Men-style entertainment and it achieves that very well.

It's basically a cartoon.

The rest of the cast includes the lovely Priyanka Chopra, who plays Krishna/Krrish's wife and... Hrithik Roshan (again) who plays his own father, old man make-up, fat-suit and all. Riya Sen, who plays the chameleon villainess, is given a character arc that's actually pretty decent as well as an entire song. Speaking of which, the songs are definitely the weakest part of this movie. The first one, Raghubati Raghav, is a popular Hindu song and it's actually very catchy so it makes for a good party song in the film. Unfortunately, it's the only one we get pre-Intermission and those which follow aren't all that memorable, though the last musical number looks beautiful at least. It would have been cool to have Krrish himself, and even Kaal, have a song but that sadly doesn't happen. Plot-wise, the film is a bit messy in that character motivations go weird places sometimes and it seems to get distracted really often. The second half of the film also starts off a bit slow and is mostly full of exposition, which makes it a bit of a wait until we get to the good stuff (buildings getting knocked down, cars being brutally crushed, CGI craziness). If you're a fan of Koi... Mil Gaya and you prefer when the franchise stays kid-friendly, then it's likely you'll feel "alienated" by Krrish 3 which is a little harsher, more action-centric and darker. If, however, you love how overblown the series has become and you just want to see some crazy shit on screen: then you'll have a ball. If there's one thing we can all agree on, though, is that the villain's metal suit at the end of the movie looks crappy-licious.

You'll either love or hate Krrish 3. I find that the best way to approach that kind of movie is with an open mind and a sense of humour. Taking any of these Krrish movies seriously is setting yourself up for disappointment. Cinematically, the film is all over the place but as a random Bollywood superhero blockbuster, Krrish 3 is very fun and appropriately nutty.

More please!