Blank

*ing: Sunny Deol, Karan Kapadia, Karanvir Sharma, Ishita Dutta

Rated: 5/10

Over the years there have been so many movies made on terrorism and sleeper cells and how to end it all. Blank just gets added to the list of the manys.

What we have is a man — an accident victim — brought to a hospital where they find a bomb ticking that too that is linked to his heart beat no less. He dies, the bomb explodes. The situation is explosive the film is not.

This is where the problem lies. Blank which is Behzab Khambata’s directorial venture is unable to cash in on the pace at which the story should progress. Given the urgency of the situation, the pace is slow. The characters move as if they have tons of time at their hands, it is just the opposite. There are 25 live bombs that are about to go off in various parts of the country.

The reasons for creating terror are the same. Words like jannat, Inshaallah and it is just business are thrown around. Money makes the world go round is the mantra.

Yelling and screaming no longer works and nor does beating the terrorist to a pulp. There are far more advanced ways to get them talking. Bollywood appears to have forgotten that. References to the RAW and IB are cliched. If all the work has to be done by these Intelligence Agencies, the police might as well shut shop and put up their uniforms.

Newbie Karan Kapadia (brother-in-law of Akshay Kumar) does manage to leave his mark even though there are many instances where he just appears to amble along. But he is tall and fights well. This should go in his favour. Sunny Deol has yet to lose the perpetual frown as is the fact that shouting no longer gets the work done. The parts where he yells grate on nerves. Good that these are few.

The 111-minute film should have been fraught with tension and speed unfortunately time is spent in showing sleeper cells checking their text and walking. But not all is lost here. It is good to see close-ups of hand-to-hand punches thrown in.