Review: ‘Kisaan’ fails to delve deep into rural India
Spicezee Bureau

Mumbai: Directed by Puneet Sira, ‘Kisaan’, which released all over this Friday, is not a bad attempt to look into the problems of farmers in remote India. The film briefly touches upon the rather sensitive issue of farmer suicide and land sharks, but doesn’t manage to delve deep into the subject the way it should have.

The story revolves around Dayal Singh (Jackie Shroff), who is a farmer in a village in Punjab. Dayal, who is a widower, raises his two sons Aman (Arbaaz Khan) and Jigar (Sohail Khan) all by himself. While Aman (Arbaaz) goes on to become a lawyer, Jigar (Sohail) like his father becomes a farmer.

Sohan Seth (Dalip Tahil), an ambitious businessman arrives in the village to set up his mega industrial project. Then he tries to convince the villagers to sell off their lands to him in return of good compensation. But when he sees Dayal being the main problem in his sinister plan, he devises a master plan to break his family to break him and his influence on the villagers.

And from there on, the film becomes a mere melodrama with Sohan befriending Aman and causing a rift in the family. To add glamour, there is Dia Mirza and Nauheed Cyrusi as Arbaaz and Sohail`s love interest respectively.

Although the way emotional scenes have been treated well in the film but the scenes that stand out are the two Panchayat sequences and the scenes shot in the darkness of night when Sohail with Sharat Saxena and Vishwajeet Pradhan hunt for the village ruffians responsible for Arbaaz’s wife Dia’s death. However the problem lies in some predictable sequences and the fact that it just touches on the surface of serious issues like farmer suicides.

As far as the performances are concerned, Jackie Shroff stands out. Sohail Khan is also not bad. In fact, he has come across as a really talented actor in a few sequences. Arbaaz, however, looks like a complete misfit in his role.

On the whole, this one’s not bad, but could have been much better!

Rating: Two cheers for ‘Kisaan’!