Ali Akram's Movie Review:

1997 continues to be a great year for quality cinema. The posters for Ramgopal Varma's Daud claimed the film was "Fun On The Run". Those posters were not exaggerating. I have not seen this superlative a Hindi action-adventure in ages. Most people are sick of watching those boring Akshay Kumar/Sunny Deol revenge flicks. Daud is more than just welcome relief: it is youthful, award-worthy, and one of the best films this year.
Sanjay Dutt is indirectly hired by a group of terrorists to recover their 'black box' from the harbour,after it is confiscated by police. (He is told there are gold biscuits in it, but the contents are really far more important to the government.) Sanjay tries to deliver the contents to his employer, but the police identify him, and so begins the Daud. He is chased by both the police and the real terrorists (who have killed his boss). Luckily street-smart Urmila, who wants half the loot, accompanies him and helps him out. The story may not be completely original, but like Varma's Rangeela, the treatment of the film is enjoyable. In my opinion, the "Meri Maa Bahaut Badi Shikari Thi" (in Chaku's village) sequence is alone worth eight dollars. And the Dolby-system background score, also by A.R. Rahman, knows how to punctuate the different sequences.
Sanjay Dutt and Urmila make an usual pair, but they are perfect foils for each other. Here are two greedy, self-centred characters that you know God made for each other. When Urmila slanders the hero or invites him to a fist fight, you can hear the ladies shout their approval: the heroine is a woman of the nineties. And whenever strong and tall Sanjay throws petite Urmila over his shoulder, you can sense all the guys secretly rooting him on: the hero is a man among men.
Honestly, the lead pair give the best performances of their careers. Not only do they act well, but Varma ensures they physically suit their roles. Sanjay is such a large fellow, that you would expect him to give a loud performance, as Sunny Deol is doing these days. Not so. In the action sequences, Sanjay's muscles do all the yelling for him. For a change, you don't feel the villain is letting the hero win. And, of course Sanjay has always had impeccable comedic timing. Welcome back Nayak.
Urmila Matondkar has honed her acting skills since Narsimha. Daud requires Urmila to flaunt more than just skin. She is perfect at comedy, romance and dancing. And the action sequences look convincing because she is physically fit. Though you would swear the dialogues were written for Sridevi, admit it, the former Queen Bee could never do these physically demanding action and dances convincingly. If Urmila ever attains numero uno status, it will be because she deserves it.
Ramgopal Varma has even given the supporting cast well-etched characters. Each member of the terrorist gang lead by Pinky (Paresh Rawal) is fun to watch. And the main police force in hot pursuit, headed by Ashish Vidyarthi (from last year's quality Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin) is just as amusing. Ashish's comedy sequences with his two sidekicks are even better than the Om Puri team's antics in Gupt. Not to forget, Chaku is the surprise packet.
The songs are beautifully shot and choreographed on virgin locales in Australia. You might even consider honeymooning there, but remember that Urmila will not be with you. Inspite of all of the heroine's provocative costumes and dances, the cinematography is not really distasteful or vulgar. (Just compare Daud's camera-work to the repetitive belly and bust highlights in Mere Sapno Ki Rani.)
Ramgopal Varma is an extremely talented director. The cameo characters in his movies are even three-dimensional. (Watch the flirting truck driver sequence with Urmila.) Rangeela, Shiva and Raat were no flukes. Ironically, Daud is fun, frivolous and unforgettable entertainment; the nineties answer to Mr. India.

Screen:

Style comes naturally to the chosen few, an intuitive god given gift. From his first film, Ramgopal Varma has set out to be a stylist and the ambition is a welcome one in the dreary, mind-numbing soul-destroying desert of copycat commercial cinema. So far so good. But we come to the million rupee question. How far can we style score over substance, specially when the style is so well-consciously inconsistent as in Daud? It is as if Varma wants to breast the finishing tape with the elan of the 100 meters sprinter but gets sidetracked into the uneven course of the marathon runner.
Daud starts off promisingly with mysterious hints of the cargo seized by the customs on a dark night and the secretive effort of the home minister to get the said mysterious box which most definitely doesn’t contain gold rigeur to have a small time lovably scampish heroes to shaggy-haired, brawny-chested Sanjay Dutt wearing a silly, winsome grin most of the time, is a small time after a suitably laid back display of muscle power. But run from the police, and the baddies led by the eccentric Pinky (Paresh Rawal who bides his time to get climax).
Even as Varma’s film gets bloated with too many songs to fit every situation conceivable to the Hindi thriller, you feel a sneaking admiration for his chutzpah in taking calculated risks while he entices you into what is possibly the most unashamedly physical wooing game we have seen in Indian films to this day. Rahman’s background score strums, thrums and grunts in an orgiastic frenzy of mating animal sounds to the animal magnetism unleashed by Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar.
So you have the heroine Urmila (whose real screen name is kept tantalisingly unrevealed almost halfway by a camera which makes love to her long and lingeringly) sashaying into the frame in classic blue jeans for the collective delection of the audience. Bhavani- a most unlikely name for a pert and apparently amoral young woman who dances with as much abandon as a houri in an Arabian Nights paradise - hoists herself on Nandu and helps him escape.
As Nandu and Bhavani ride off to their tryst into the jungle, the posse of half-informed policemen led by Inspector Nair (Ashish Vidyarthi, an intelligently befuddled performance) blunders after them. But comic capers need even more meticulous care than straight drama. Varma is so taken up with set pieces tributes during the chase scenes that he has his pair stop by to do a parody of the usual jerks and jhatkas, smirks and swayings, just because the hero says he feels like singing!
As it is, we have had the pair slither about with sinuous serpentine passion to the throbbing sibilants of zahreela pyar and then, they have pranced around for the Shabba shabba hai ha number in ethnic chic and you even had Sanjay Dutt ride a buffalo, in an astute tribute to the Sunil Dutt of Mother India. The dishevelled escapees wander into a tribal village looking for board and lodge. They tell the villagers an interminable repetitive, deliberately circuitous story of how they wandered along. They come to a full-stop when it comes to the inevitable question of what happened next. The stalling is funny for a few minutes but the director is oblivious to the danger of this stalling as we apply to his own narrative. It is clever to play around with the basic elements of the narrative, and put off the what happens next if only you can engage the viewer with something we can safely overlook because all the people we see on the screen, with perhaps the exception of Pinky, are performers within strict parameters whose very superficiality we are asked to enjoy.
But Varma is more a craftsman who takes pains over the designer look of individual segments but seems to have lost the larger picture when he stops by for bits of filmic tomfoolery. Even fantasy must bow to narrative logic.
The cinematography veers from the subjectives of grandly conceived overhead shots. But what we remember most is the caressing attention lavished on Urmila’s perky derriere, whether in swaying motion or in-your-face provocative postures. The mood Varma wants to create is feline seduction, from purring kitten to snarling tigress even at the risk of being labelled voyeur. Sanjay Dutt’s loose limbed agility and sinewy grace complements this feeling look but you know whom the camera loves more.
Sanjay Chhel’s dialogue comes into its own only when Paresh Rawal tips over the edge into manic egoism. His ravings and rantings are edged with sly humour and savage satire. But you and I know who the audience are going to drool over. Oh yes, the saucy Miss Matondkar whose charms are so carefully showcased. But will this Bhavani go on to become an icon like Sholay’s Basanti 20 yeas from now? I guess not. Bhavani is more a poseur than a believable character, conjured out of the film maker’s mind obsessed with making a memorable pastiche of Hollywood and Bollywood. Unfortunately for Varma, pastiche doesn’t work in the long run.

India World:

Released. After Rangeela, Ram Gopal Verma's second film Daud is about a boy and girl who are on the run from the clutches of the police and the villains.
The police get hold of a container which is extremely dangerous for the nation. A group of terrorists headed by psycho Pinkie (Paresh Rawal) wants that container at any cost and the task of getting it back is assigned to a petty thief Nandu (Sanjay Dutt). Nandu is told that the box has gold worth Rs 1 crore. Nandu is successful in his mission and hides the box till he gets the money. Situations are created such that Nandu has to escape. Both Pinkie and his gang and the police officer (Ashish Vidyarthi) are after Nandu. Here Nandu is helped by Bhavani (Urmilla Matondkar) who on knowing the contents of the box asks for fifty-fifty. In the film Bhavani calls herself Daya Shankar and Nandu calls himself Shiv Parvati. In due course they both fall in love. And then they come to know that there is no gold in the box but it contains a neutron bomb. Thus, they now take on the task of saving the country.
The first half of the film is light and does have some comic scenes but the director has taken the audience for granted assuming that comedy punches can make up for a poor storyline. After Rangeela, Ram Gopal Verma has seen to it that Urmilla is in the bare minimal of clothes, especially in the songs.
However performance-wise Urmilla has not only exposed but has also shown her talents by giving good performance in a role of bold lady. Sanjay Dutt has also performed very well. Ashish Vidyarthi did not have much scope. The director however failed to create that impact which was created by Rangeela. AR Rehman's music is good especially songs like Oh Bhaware..., Ye Jaan Le Le Re.... and Shabba Shabba....

Rating : Fair