ONE 2 KA FOUR (Theatrical Release India 2001)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 0.4|5.0 Stars ì

One 2 Ka Four—Director Shashilal K. Nair is somewhat better at making music videos than movie directing it seems. While this film has some very good looking and experienced main actors like Jackie Shroff (a Jim Belushi with a mustache) and Shah Rukh Khan, who could play any character from action to romance based on looks alone, this police/crime/drama film lacks realism, seriousness, suspense, and the straightforwardness necessary for its storyline. It fails to provide that necessary ‘twist’ at the end of the story that makes one rave afterwards about how good it is.  Unfortunately, native culture takes a high seat while international appeal takes a backseat and that affects the international marketability of the film. It fails to do what other foreign-made films, like the African The Gods Must Be Crazy, did so well—appeal to the international human spirit.

Storyline

Arun (Shah Rukh Khan), a Special Task Force Officer, loses his best friend and partner, Javed (Jackie Shroff), to a murderous drug lord and then finds himself on his own in establishing justice for his partner’s death.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director Shashilal K. Nair and to Executive Producer Nazir Ahmed for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Arun Verma (Shah Rukh Khan), Geeta Choudhary (Juhi Chawla), Javed Abbas (Jackie Shroff), Krishan Kant Virmani (Nirmal Pandey), and Champak (Dilip Joshi).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

No. The film is a good study for examining cultural differences in storytelling techniques via film media. If you’re not interested in an academic study, the film will have low level entertainment value because it fails to appeal to the international audience.

Ben Meyers