Sanjay Dutt’s ‘BHOOMI’ (2017) Could Be An Action Movie With An Aging Hero Done Right. Maybe.

Sanjay Dutt is making a comeback after a few years of personal troubles and, basically being in jail. More about Dutt's prison woes can be read about in my Salman Khan article. But the original action hero is coming back and the trailer for his new movie 'Bhoomi' looks badass, although very familiar.

'Bhoomi' trailer shows the aging Sanjay Dutt back in full action form.

The Trailer makes 'Bhoomi' seem like the usual rape-revenge drama-thriller. Which I am getting pretty tired of given that we're getting so many of these in a year now. It's becoming an issue for me. Recently even Sridevi made a  second comeback with a similar revenge drama in 'Mom'.

While 'Bhoomi' does feel like it may be a little different given how the Trailer is cut, but still comes off as more of the same. The trailer takes a long time to set up the relationship between Dutt's character, and that of his daughter, played by the awesomely underrated Aditi Rao Hydari. An older single father with a grown daughter. We see glimpses of a possible love story and then are introduced to the villain of the story played by Sharad Kelkar. All typical bullshit commercial drama elements.

It's a textbook rape-revenge drama, that blends a lot of the ones we've already gotten. We see some court room scenes ('Pink') followed by what I think will be the highlight of the movie: the action!

Dutt can be considered the action hero of his generation of Bollywood actors. This is obviously post the Vijays of Amitabh Bachchan from films like 'Zanjeer' and 'Sholay' in the 70's. Making a name for himself in a movie about the villain, ('Khalnayak') Dutt has constantly redefined the action genre. Being one of the original Bollywood stars who promoted fitness and even the guy who brough MMA to India, Dutt and action go hand in hand.

So it's pretty spectacular to see him making a comeback in the genre that he's most comfortable with. But unlike guys like Bruce Willis, Dutt's aging status seems to be factored into 'Bhoomi'. The trailer really drags out the ass-kicking with a build up of story, trauma, and Dutt & Hydari's relationship as father and daughter. Which is really what gives me hope for this movie. Dutt displays a lot of fragility and despair, long before we get to his ruthless glares and head stomping. But then we get to the concerning bits again.

'Bhoomi' is directed by Omung Kumar of 'Sarbjit' and 'Mary Kom' fame. A friend recently said of Kumar that he is 'all smoke and no fire', which is probably the best way to describe his films. Both of the above mentioned featured a great premise, amazing performers, but somewhere along the line, everything fell flat and became uninteresting. Add to this Kumar's obsession with red title fonts over distressed grey/black backgrounds, and it's all very concerning.

I would like 'Bhoomi' to do well, given it's Dutt's comeback and I'm a fan of Hydari as well. But the talent involved behind the camera provide very little hope of this movie being anything other than another attempt to cash in on the, for some reason, trending genre of revenge flicks.

'Bhoomi' releases September 22nd, 2017.

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