Kisna: The Warrior Poet (2005)

Star Power: Vivek Oberoi, Sushmita Sen (Cameo in Item Song)

Overall Rating: 3 out of 7 chilies

Music: 5.5 out of 7 chilies

Choreography: 5.5 out of 7 chilies

Synopsis:
When a famous wealthy British woman comes to tour India, she surprises everyone by deciding to make her first stop a little-known mountain province. Though usually reluctant to discuss her past, that evening she begins to explain the story of her life.
More than 50 years earlier, Katherine (Antonia Bernath) is the daughter of a strict provincial governor growing up on the eve of Indian independance. When nationalists attack her family and burn her home, Katherine seeks the help of a childhood friend, a young man named Kisna (Vivek Oberoi). Leaving behind his fiancee, Lakshmi (Isha Sharvani), he agrees to help guide her to safety, evading both the radical nationalists and the brutal Prince Raghuraj (Rajat Kapoor), who wants Katherine for himself. As the two cross India looking for refuge, Katherine realizes her love for her protector, and Kisna finds himself torn between the promises he has made...

Comments:
Another historical film in the vein of Lagaan and Mughal-e-Azam, Kisna: The Warrior Poet unfortunately lacks many of the qualities which made those other films great. Perhaps the greatest testament to this film's blandness is the fact that it took me several weeks just to get through it. The characters are all pretty flat, with Katherine one of the worst offenders. She is first gratingly cheerful and then mournfully lovestruck, and spends most of the film waiting for Kisna to save her from some predicament. After the first twenty minutes, the film bcomes one long chase which does nothing if not prove the fact that the world is a very small place, as one group of bad guys or another seems to catch up to Kisna and Katherine just about every few minutes. The music is really very good, but even songs like "Woh Kisna Hai" or "Chilman Uthegi Nahin" with great choreography and beautiful melodies can't really save this film. I have to admit, the part of the film I enjoyed the most was probably the short sequence surrounding the latter of those two songs, featuring Sushmita Sen as the dancer Naima Begum, but that was only perhaps twenty minutes out of the total 171 minute running time.