Will Tere Naam resurrect Salman?

The day before I went to see the Salman Khan-starrer Tere Naam, I attended a press meet at which Salman addressed the audience. I had never met the actor before.

After hearing all those bad boy stories, I expected a man with attitude.

I saw a very polite and humorous man who had the audience in splits with his wisecracks.

In his first film of the year, Tere Naam, I was surprised by his performance. The one thing that did irritate me was his hairstyle before the interval. The long strands which kept covering his eyes were quite distracting.

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Tere Naam is about the Indian Robin Hood Radhe (Salman Khan). He commands respect over his neighbourhood since he is bashing up goons to help those less fortunate. In spite of being an ex-student, he sits outside his college and rags new students. One of his victims is Neerjara (Bhoomika Chawla), a very simple girl.

Radhe falls hopelessly in love with her. Being the daughter of a temple priest, she has never seen violence at close quarters and rejects him outright. As the film progresses, she falls in love with him. But their happiness is shortlived.

Tere Naam, a remake of the Tamil blockbuster Sethu, is truly different from the regular fare. Since I had not watched the original, the twist of events took me by surprise completely.

It is a good film for Satish Kaushik, after his no shows Badhaai Ho Badhaai, Prem and Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, to just name a few. The songs, which pop up at regular intervals, do not annoy you terribly. But the excessive crying scenes post-interval do annoy you.

The film is extremely violent, as the action rages on from start to finish, at the drop of a hat. The part where Salman loses his mind is especially very violent and parental guidance is recommended.

Bhoomika, who debuts in Hindi cinema with this film, looks very natural, thanks to her non made-up look.

The other actors, like Sachin Khedekar (who plays Radhe's brother), Radhe's friends and Neejara's fiancé, do a good job.

Though Tere Naam has gone through its fair share of controversies, like the time when Salman slapped Kaushik, the actor proves he is capable of doing more than just getting into trouble.

CREDITS
Cast: Salman Khan, Bhoomika Chawla, Sachin Khedekar
Director: Satish Kaushik
Producer: Mukesh Talreja and Sunil Manchanda
Music: Himesh Reshamiya
Lyrics: Sameer