Written and directed by Behzad Khambatta, Blank is yet another ‘terrorists vs upright police officer film,’ starring Sunny Deol, debutant Karan Kapadia, Karanvir Sharma , Ishita Dutta and the background score.
Yes, the latter must be mentioned as a separate entity. It’s this “always on steroids” background score that remains endemic to the proceedings.
The only person who can be heard over the very loud din is our very own Sunny Deol.
He might be an ATS chief trying to avert calamity and catch the terrorists who are planning series of blasts in the city, but these are just semantics. For all practical purposes he is playing his larger-than-life dhai-kilo-ka-haath version.
At one point, when his junior officer informs him that the terror suspect is refusing to divulge any details, he simply screams “uska baap bhi batayega”. Sometime later, the terrorists come in three cars, all guns blazing, and Sunny paji is left with just a single gun and comes through unscathed. Well, this is Sunny Deol being “Sunny Deol”.
The film starts with an unnamed, bloodied man about to be shot in the head. The narrative then takes a non-linear route and the details slowly bleed out.
The man, who answers to the name Hanif, has a live bomb stuck to his heart. What’s his mission? Anyone’s guess because Hanif doesn’t remember anything.
This is how the film probably got its name but it’s also a handy way to explain debutante actor Karan Kapadia’s expressions. His deadpan look, even in scenes when he is supposedly in-charge, prove to be the actual mystery of the movie.
Karanvir Sharma as an officer in the Anti Terror Squad and Jameel Khan who plays the terror attack mastermind bring a credible potency to their characters but otherwise Blank at best is a slightly high budget episode of CID! Even at 111 mins, it is a long drab watch.
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