Action Hero Films’Â Crakk (UA) is a sports action film. It is the story of a young man’s quest to dig out the truth about his brother’s disappearance. Siddhu (Vidyut Jammwal) is a slum dweller. He joins Maidaan, an underground survival sports competition headed by Dev (Arjun Rampal), to know the truth about his brother who, before him, had also joined Maidaan but never returned.
Aditya Datt, Rehan Khan, Sarim Momin and Mohinder Pratab Singh’s story about the missing brother of Siddhu is not very exciting but the survival sports, which he joins to know more about his missing brother, are extremely thrilling. Their screenplay is engaging, no doubt, but it doesn’t offer much novelty. The engagement comes more from the stunts than the drama. However, the stunts and action scenes are so integral to the plot that they manage to hold the viewers’ interest and keep them entertained. Dialogues, written by the team of writers, are okay.
Vidyut Jammwal is mind-blowing in action scenes and actually gives the viewers a lot of thrill. He breathes fire into the stunts he performs. His acting, as Siddhu, is good. Arjun Rampal is pretty effective as Dev. He looks handsome and fit. Nora Fatehi gets limited scope in the role of Alia. She does a fair job. Amy Jackson is quite nice as Patricia Novak. Ankit Mohan makes his presence felt in the role of Nihal. Jamie Lever is routine as Junaida. Bijay Anand has his moments as Mark. Rajendra Shisatkar and Shalaka S. Pawar lend fine support as Siddhu’s parents. Michael Owusu is okay as Zack. Pooja Sawant, Rukmini Maitra and MC Square are impactful in special appearances in the Rom Rom song.
Aditya Datt’s direction is good. He has made a fast-paced film which keeps the audience engaged and engrossed. Music (Khayal rakhna by Mithoon, Rom Rom, Dil jhoom and Jeena haraam by Tanishk Bagchi, and the title track and Khel by Vikram Montrose) is quite good. Although there are no hit songs, the numbers are quite melodious. Lyrics (Dil jhoom by Gurpreet Saini, Rom Rom by MC Square, Jeena haraam by Tanishk Bagchi, title song by Shekhar Astitwa and Paradox, Khayal rakhna by Manoj Muntashir, and Khel by Abhinav Shekhar and Vikram Montrose) are fairly appealing. Song picturisations (by Raju Khan and Ganesh Acharya) are okay. Vikram Montrose’s background music is superb and deserves distinction marks. Mark Hamilton’s cinematography — with additional camerawork by Anik R. Verma and Anshumaan Singh Thakur — is extraordinary. K. Ravi Verma, Fedrico Cueva, Kerry Gregg, Cyril Raffaelli, David Szatarski, Raj Shinde, Sunil Rodrigues and Vikram Dahiya do an outstanding job of the action and stunt scenes. The death-defying stunts leave the audience at the edge of their seats and biting their nails. Production designing (by Juhi Talmaki), and art direction (by Chetan Acharya, Shane Ali Khan, Bidhan Guha, Roshan Modak, Fati Popova, Zaur Abdullayev) are of a fine standard. Sandeep Kurup’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Crakk is an average fare but it has absolutely breathtaking action and stunts to entice lovers of action cinema. Its very high cost, of course, is a minus point.
Released on 23-2-’24 at Inox (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity: good. Opening: quite good (also because of low ticket prices today, it being Cinema Lovers’ Day). …….Also released all over. Opening was fair at most of the places.