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There’s no better place for a science lesson than in a mainstream Hindi action film. At one point in Sabbir Khan’s Nikamma, our hero Adi (Abhimanyu Dassani) sits on a leaking gas cylinder and faces a pack of villains. “When LPG and fire come into contact,” Adi informs knowledgeably, “an explosion occurs.” The lesson continues. “The temperature will exceed 100C… You’ll get third-degree burns…” The villains thus enlightened leave Adi alone, proving that in a film written, directed and co-produced by Sabbir Khan, at least a little sanity can prevail.
Nikamma is not a remake because Middle-Class Abbayi (Telugu, as of 2017) was a popular hit. no It’s a remake because nobody – least of all Sabbir, creator of the Tiger Shroff films Heropanti, Baaghi and Munna Michael – cares more about original storylines. The story is so thin that back then it would have disappointed if it had been a launch vehicle by Tusshar Kapoor or Aftab Shivdasani. Adi moves to a town in Uttar Pradesh with his sister-in-law, RTO officer Avni (Shilpa Shetty). There, a local don (Abhimanyu Singh) threatens to kill Avni after she cuts off his rental car business. It’s up to Adi – loitering, unemployed, but nonetheless one of the busiest slackers you’ll ever see in a movie – to protect her.
Even bad action movies try to put on a show. Nikamma, shot in the same loop house-street-RTO-office, is the opposite of that. Sabbir’s action design – a barrage of flying kicks in bland slow-mo – feels dated. Worse, however, are the spurts of sentimentality injected by the director to maintain his disjointed narrative. Adi, facing his enemy, sheds light on how middle-class people deal with “small problems” like inflation and overpopulation. The endeavor (it seems) is to build a rich versus poor narrative. However, as if delivered by a star child, the line sounds condescending.
This star boy has a baby-faced lovability that sets him apart at times (Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Abhimanyu’s debut film, and a smashing one at that, made good use of this). Shilpa was once one of our main characters; here she’s aiming for a comeback, emphasizing arched eyebrows and stoically pursed lips. Shirley Setia barely registers as Adi’s love interest (it doesn’t matter; she looks happy about it). And my heart goes out to Abhimanyu Singh, who has since earned a Lifetime Achievement Award as Bollywood’s worst of the most steadfast villains. On more than one occasion he puts a gun to his own head but decides not to, as if he wants to keep hammering away at this gig for a few more years.
It’s amazing how confident Nikamma is in its entertainment value, despite lacking all of that. Dassani said in an interview that it was Salman Khan who wanted him to make a commercial action film. The action is desolate and we’ll be talking about commerce in a few days. “Is this emotional drama going on or is there a party going on too?” asks a character in Nikamma. The short answer is no.
Nikamma
Cast: Abhimanyu Dassani, Shilpa Shetty, Shirley Setia, Abhimanyu Singh, Sachin Khedekar, Samir Soni
Director: Sabbir Khan