Umar

Rating:- *1/2

The plight of senior citizens has been depicted in a number of Bollywood films in the past, but the ones that stand out are ZINDAGI [Sanjeev Kumar, Mala Sinha], AVTAAR [Rajesh Khanna, Shabana Azmi], SWARG [Rajesh Khanna], JAISI KARNI WAISI BHARNI [Kader Khan] and BAGHBAN [Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini].

But UMAR, directed by Karan Razdan, goes a step further. It not only looks at the atrocities committed by their kith and kin during their sunset years, but the story also has a crime angle running parallel.

The problem is, while the story of the senior citizens holds interest, the crime part doesn't. If the emotional story of the three aged people [Kader Khan, Prem Chopra, Satish Kaushik] appears straight out of life/identifiable and moves you, the crime story fails to thrill you. It actually stands out like an island.

Director Karan Razdan, who is also credited with the script, may be keen to convey a message with UMAR, fails to do so instead confuses the story with a parallel crime angle.

UMAR rests on the three protagonists -- Kader Khan, Prem Chopra and Satish Kaushik and each one doing complete justice to his role. Jimmy Shergill is good. Shenaz Treasurywala is stiff and just provides a glam angle. Shakti Kapoor is as usual. Dalip Tahil is alright.

On the whole, UMAR’s prospects seem grim at the box-office.