BLANK is the story of a terrorist who is a ‘living explosive’. Hanif (Karan Kapadia) is a part of a terrorist group called Tehreer Al-Hind, headed by Maqsood (Jameel Khan). He has arrived in Mumbai along with other terrorists with a deadly plan – to set off 24 bomb blasts, each by a terrorist. However, on the D-Day, he meets with a road accident. He faints and is taken to the hospital. The staff there is astonished to see a timed bomb fixed to his body! Immediately, the ATS chief S S Dewan (Sunny Deol) is informed. The doctors are unable to detach the bomb from his body as its connected with his heart. Once Hanif regains consciousness, another obstacle emerges in front of Dewan. Hanif has lost his memory due to the accident and doesn’t remember anything at all about the bomb or where he has come from. Dewan’s juniors, Husna (Ishita Dutta) and Rohit (Karanvir Sharma) meanwhile nab another suicide bomber, Farukh. Realizing that the police now has the second terrorist to extract information from, Dewan’s senior Aruna Gupta orders that Hanif be taken to the outskirts of the city and be killed. Dewan accompanies the party that takes Hanif to a salt pan. On the other hand, Husna successfully locates Hanif’s residence where she finds the blueprint of the bomb attached to Hanif’s body. She realizes that killing Hanif will trigger other 24 bombs in the city and she quickly informs Dewan of the same. At this moment, a team of terrorists arrive at the salt pans and attacks the cops. They also take away Hanif. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Pranav Adarsh’s story is average. His screenplay is decent but also has its loose ends. Some small developments are also skipped which is bewildering. After all, the film’s duration is quite less and 4-5 minutes of extra scenes wouldn’t have harmed the film. Behzad Khambata’s dialogues are simple and work well.
Behzad Khambata’s direction is quite good, also considering that it’s his directorial debut. He has some handled some scenes deftly.
BLANK is just 111 minutes long but it seems quite lengthy. The film starts off well at a crucial moment and then goes on a flashback mode. The first half doesn’t go on a high but is decent and sans complaints. Hanif’s fight sequence in the hospital is nicely done. His interrogation sequence gets a bit dragging but keeps viewers engaged. The intermission point however is the best part of the film. Three developments are happening simultaneously here – Husna is searching Hanif’s house, Rohit is in search of the godown whereas Dewan is about to execute Hanif. And all these episodes are well directed. Post-interval however, the film goes downhill. A track is needlessly added about Hanif’s father during the 2002 riots. Remove this bit and the film still would have made sense. The action scene in the tourist office is quite long and well executed. The climax is quite unexpected and unpredictable. That is a plus but at the same time, logic goes out of the window. The masses especially would find it difficult to understand the developments regarding the bomb attached on Hanif’s body.
Karan Kapadia makes a fine debut. He succeeds in pulling off this uni-dimensional character. Shockingly, the film is marketed extensively on his name but for most of the second half, he is not there on the screen. Sunny Deol is excellent and after a string of bad films and acts [YAMLA PAGLA DEEWANA PHIR SE, MOHALLA ASSI, BHAIAJI SUPERHIT], he finally proves his worth in this film. The audiences will get to see the Deol they love, in this film. Ishita Dutta gives her best shot. Karanvir Sharma looks dashing and makes his presence felt. Jameel Khan (Maqsood) is entertaining. But his act might remind one of his character in BABY [2015]. Kishori Shahane (Dewan’s wife) is wasted. The actors playing Farukh, Bashir, Aruna Gupta and Dewan’s son Raunaq are average.
Music has no scope. ‘Ali Ali’, featuring Akshay Kumar, appears in the end. ‘Himmat Karja’ is wasted and the way Sunny Deol and others start doing a particular hand movement in a serious moment looks out of place. ‘Warning Nahi Dunga’ is played during the opening credits and goes well with it. Rooshin Dalal and Kaizad Gherd’s background score however is quite powerful and escalates impact.
R Dee’s cinematography is top-class and gives the film a superior look. Watch out for the bird’s eye shot of the salt pans – simply breathtaking! Vikram Dahiya’s action is visually nice and not too gory. Rajinder Sharma’s production design is appropriate. FutureWorks Media Ltd’s VFX is authentic. Sanjay Sharma’s editing is okay.
On the whole, BLANK is well directed and performed and is based on the relatable events of terrorism. Sunny Deol’s fans will love him in an action packed role after a long time. At the box office, it will be an average fare!
Courtesy : https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/
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