Zanjeer
ZanjeerFacebook/Zanjeer

Priyanka Chopra and Ram Charan Teja's latest film "Zanjeer" has hit the screens on Friday with mixed reviews from critics.

The film is a remake of 1970's classic film of the same name, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and veteran actor Pran in the lead roles.

The film is directed by Apoorva Lakhia of "Shootout At Lokhandwala" fame and is produced by Amit Mehra, son of late filmmaker Prakash Mehra who had directed and produced the original version.

"Zanjeer" is Ram Charan's Bollywood debut that sees him stepping into the shoes of the 70s' angry young man, Amitabh, as Inspector Vijay.

Check out the critics review here:

Mihir Fadnavis of Firstpost said: "I generally try to avoid feeling depressed while writing about a movie, especially when it's a brainless and un-classy one that stars not only the thoroughly-unthreatening Prakash Raj as a villain but also has him seducing Mahie Gill by scratching his chest and murmuring "Meeowww Meeeoowww".

"Why classic films like Zanjeer get remade into such trash is an inexplicable phenomenon, much like alchemy - except in this case gold becomes trash instead of the other way round. To those who counter Zanjeer's lack of intelligence with the ready advice of, "Hey it's a masala movie so turn off your brain and enjoy", I don't have a switch to just turn my brain off. If I did, maybe I'd be make a film like Zanjeer instead of writing about it.

"Zanjeer is not just a bad film, it is proof of a filmmaker who is barely even trying. To say this remake defecates upon the legacy of the original film would be giving it too much credit.

"What is most annoying about Zanjeer is that it's an extremely bad movie that simply uses the rights it owns and absolutely desecrates the sanctity of the original."

Meena Iyer of The Times of India said: "Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer has many similarities to its four-decade old namesake Prakash Mehra's Zanjeer (1973) that breathed fire and brimstone. The original film earned Amitabh Bachchan the epithet 'angry young man' and made him world-famous. The 2013 action thriller brings Andhra icon Chiranjeevi's son, Ram Charan (also an Andhra superstar) to Bollywood.

"Yet, this film should be judged as a stand-alone offering because attempts to compare the two versions will find the current one falling short, especially in the dialogue and music departments. Nostalgia happens when some original dialogue like 'Yeh police station hai, tere baap ka ghar nahi' and 'Sher Khan beimaani ka dhanda bhi imaandari se karta hai' are uttered.

"Ram Charan, as the brooding policeman, excels in action. His dark eyes with long lashes adeptly convey anger. Sanjay Dutt is competent and lovable. Priyanka looks smashing but is overzealous in the American Born Desi Gujarati Girl act. Mahie Gill as the gangster's girl Mona is raunchy."

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama said: "The question is, how much has Apoorva Lakhia retained from the all-time classic? The new ZANJEER borrows from the original, but it is more of an updated avatar of that film. The essence remains the same, the characters are similar too, even a dialogue or two has been retained... but let me put it this way -- it's his interpretation of a film that's admired even after four decades of its release.

"Let's get one thing right! ZANJEER is *not* a scene-to-scene reproduction of the earlier film. ZANJEER has a present-day setting, thus catering to today's spectators. Apoorva and his team of writers rely on drama and action to carry the story forward: The conflict between Ram Charan and Prakash Raj works for most parts, while the action is larger-than-life and in sync with what the present-day spectators expect from masala movies. 

"A subject like ZANJEER is totally up Apoorva's alley and without comparing him with his peers, I must state that the director has handled a number of dramatic sequences adroitly, especially the ones between Ram Charan and Sanju and also between Ram Charan and Prakash Raj.

"On the whole, ZANJEER is a triumph for Ram Charan, who gets abundant opportunity to exhibit his talent and scores exceedingly well. However, the film comes across as a regular masala fare that caters to the single screen spectator mainly and also for enthusiasts of typical Bollywood entertainers. As for the comparisons with the original ZANJEER, I suggest try not to get there!"

Mohar Basu of Koimoi.com said: "I am not really a fan of remakes, but this clearly ranks amongst the shabbier ones I've encountered. Based on Prakash Mehra's vintage classic that marked the advent of Big B as Bollywood's angry young man, Zanjeer even with its share of spiffy action clearly misses the raw flair that Salim-Javed's touch had done to the screenplay. All the crashing thrills and smashing stunts simply couldn't save this film from being a flat, tiresome and sore bore.

"Watch it only if you are inclined to revisit the stories of 70s when commercial cinema wasn't synonymous with making similarly lazy films with minimal creative offering!

"Zanjeer, is yet another example of how little regard our film industry has for good cinema or cinema at all for that matter. Constantly prodding older scripts, to squeeze out the film's natural zest is a tendency young filmmakers are conveniently resorting to.

"Zanjeer is a typical product of prevalent market tricks that ensure numbers. A sloppy mishmash of slackened writing, half baked execution and slumber incurring editing, the desperate attempts of packing a few extra scenes of head banging action doesn't quite help. Lacking the spirit and marvel of Zanjeer that I went in looking, the reason why I both survived and detested the film, was the same."