Armaan Review

Armaan
Obeying his father's dying wish, a young doctor attempts to raise funds for a new hospital, but falls foul of a wealthy and manipulative young woman.

by Omar Ahmed |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 2003

Running Time:

0 minutes

Certificate:

U

Original Title:

Armaan

Honey Irani's directorial debut set against the backdrop of a hospital where emotional turmoil threatens to tear an Indian family apart, is an amalgamation of every predictable plot twist and genre cliché in the book, complete with ropey dialogue, a helpful ghost and quite possibly the cheesiest brain surgery scene in cinema history ("This is a very complicated case").

When things go wrong, Irani adopts false identities in the hope that the actors' versatility will prevail over the nonsensical attempts at suspense. Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor duly oblige, but their work is squandered thanks to a miscast Preity Zinta and twitchy direction. Gracy Singh (she of Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India) also turns up as an adoring anaesthetist.

The real tragedy is that there's a decent family drama lurking here, with some intriguing ideas about emotional sacrifice.
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