Producer: Keshu Ramsay
Director: Raj Kumar Santoshi
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Aryaman, Bhumika Chawla
Music: Ram Sampat

‘Family - Ties Of Blood’ is the latest flick out of the closet of the ace filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi, who has little to prove his talents after a long list of hit and quality films from him. The director is acclaimed for Ghayal, Andaz Apna Apna, Damini, Ghatak, Pukar, Lajja, The Legend Of Bhagat Singh and Khakee among many others. Likewise his recent release is also much anticipated. And the probable reasons to expect from the film are endless. Firstly it is directed by the top quality director, brings the team of ‘Khakee’ once again, stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aksay Kumar, produced by Keshu Ramsay, has a good storyline... the list seems endless.

The narrative is about the conflict between two families and the lead stars Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, who are up in arms to war against each other. Viren Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Shekhar Bhatia (Akshay Kumar) are two different people living in two different worlds. They come together leading to some disastrous events. Viren has underworld alliances and is a don whose den is Bangkok. Because his family comprising wife (Shernaz Patel), son (Sushant Singh), daughter-in-law, daughter and grandson don’t contemplate his underground activities, they live in Mumbai. In the same city, Shekhar lives with his parents (Anjan Srivastava, Bharti Achrekar), wife (Bhumika Chawla) and brother Aryan (Aryeman). They live a very simple life, Shekhar is a chef, his wife is a doctor, and his younger is a struggler trying to do something. But in a clash of events, Viren kills Shekhar. Aryan kidnaps Viren’s family to take revenge on him. Viren is in search of him and Aryan intends to get him to kill him.

Once you go through the film, you realise that the film doesn’t have the strength of the story to hold onto you. The clash between the families is definitely not a novel take and to make it different with the milieu of ‘The Godfather’ doesn’t work as expected. The story is pretty predictable, hackneyed and also inconsistent. Though there are a few gripping moments, as a whole the film fails to create an impact. The script and execution further hammers the film down. From a novelist like Rajkumar Santoshi the film is indeed a downer. The film just doesn’t seem to be a work of the great filmmaker.

‘Family’ takes off in an interesting manner, only to leave out in the middle. The second half gets more and more boring with no exciting moments to perk it up. Everything moves in a typical manner and the viewer looses heart in the film soon.  The film appeals in bits and pieces but it is not enough to catch the attention throughout.

The film neither boasts of a good music by Ram Sampath. Only ‘Katra Katra’ stands out. Cinematography by Ashok Mehta is watertight but dialogues by Santoshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia are lifeless. Even act wise, nobody delivers anything top-notch. Amitabh Bachchan also seems to have put halfhearted effort in his role. Akshay Kumar has a role just more than a cameo ought and he is apt within his premise. Bhumika Chawla stands out from her past films. Aryeman still needs to groom and refine himself. Others like Shernaz Patel, Sushant Singh, Kader Khan, Gulshan Grover, Raza Murad, Anjan Srivastava and Sanjay Singh are okay.

Relying on the promotions, the film will be for now able to pull audience to the theaters. But the word of mouth and poor reviews of being reckless may surely hamper the business.