Salman Khan makes a smashing return with Wanted, directed by arguably India’s best dancer Prabhu Deva. The movie is a remake of the south Indian blockbuster Pokiri and the screenplay has been modified to appeal to the national audience. Technically, Wanted is Bollywood’s best out-an-out action flick.
The story is straight out of those numerous action movies of the 80s and 90s. We have a hero (Radhe – Salman Khan) who can bash 20 goons at a time without suffering a scratch, we have the beautiful heroine (Jhanvi – Ayesha Takia) who is head-over-heels in love with the hero, we also have a hardcore villian (Gani Bhai – Prakash Raj) and not to forget a corrupt officer (Inspector Talpade – Mahesh Manjrekar).
Radhe is a street-smart goon, willing to do just about anything for money, but strictly on his own terms and conditions. He works for Gani Bhai, who is one of the most feared international gangsters. Commissioner of Police Ashraf Khan (Govind Namdeo) takes it upon himself to rid Mumbai of crime.. How… forms the rest of the tale.
Wanted Hindi Movie Review
Why Wanted is worth a watch in theatre
- Salman Khan! Wanted firmly rests on Salman’s broad shoulders and the actor after a long time is in form. He has few dialogues to mouth but its his attitude and star presence that helps Wanted rise way above the mediocre script and direction.
- Prakash Raj, the actor who won the National Award recently when most thought it would either be Aamir or Shahrukh, just proves how good an actor he is. In a smallish role, Prakash as Gani Bhai delivers a mind-blowing performance. His cameo itself is worth the price of the ticket!
- Action scenes – Would work big time at the smaller centres, the multiplex audience would enjoy it too. The first action scene and the last one (climax) are fantastic.
- Govinda, Anil Kapoor and Prabhu Deva make special appearances.
You could skip Wanted, here’s why
- No story, no logic. There is a twist in the tale, which does surprise but as the performances, action sequences and visuals dominate, the writing is below average.
- Way too many songs – Ahh.. why do we need so many songs in our movies? What exactly is the point? The director has thrown in songs, once every 15 minutes, at every possible opportunity, which basically act as speed breakers on a fast-paced express-highway.
- Too long – Blame those damn songs!
- Dead bodies, blood, gore may not exactly be liked by the family audiences.
- Ayesha Takia certainly deserved a better role. She has nothing much to do, also her makeup is very inconsistent.
The Ghajini connection (both remakes, directed by South Indian directors)
- What worked for Ghajini was a beautifully scripted love story, which unfortunately doesn’t work quite as well in Wanted.
- The music is below average, Sajid- Wajid don’t come close to Rahman’s brilliance.
Overall, amidst all the mediocrity Salman Khan stands tall with a towering performance, he along with Prakash Raj in the second half make Wanted a one time watch.
Rating: 
Other notes – Its easy to criticize someone like Salman Khan, who many believe doesn’t take his work too seriously. But shouldn’t it rather be a compliment for an actor who has been one of the top actors of the industry right from the time he made his debut with Maine Pyaar Kiya?
In an industry wherein one disaster could end a promising career, Salman has effortlessly managed to remain on top and continues to be, at the age of 44, one of the most influential actors in the country. With Wanted, after far too many failures in the recent past, he proves yet again, that he has the talent and more importantly the star power to still carry a solo starrer.
Watch Wanted for Salman..
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October 1st, 2009 at 11:15 pm
This is the outstanding movie of salman. salman has great come back and makes beautiful movie after long time.
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Vinod should have given a batter role in this film as he is the top performer in the industry no doubt wanted is good movie to watch
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
hi uday Balachandra, just one request … the songs were nice but not great… enjoyed the songs but in another movie make music and songs more enjoyable(take A.R Rahman or someone very good)… I am sure ur next movie will be bigger hit than wanted….All the best for next venture
October 3rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Salman Khan’s rocking performance.He rules on hearts and now he will rule on boxoffice as ever.
Love u sallu..
October 5th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
friends plz don’t talk badly abt wantet flick. salman did fantastic job and watch wanted. salman…….is…..salman.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
WAnted is a cool movie, very fast pased and suit the attitude of Our Very own Salman Khan, Has Pravu Deva opted for an other actor, movie would have been flat on the ground!!!
You rock Salman, be cool forever!!!
October 6th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Wanted – (2009) – Bollywood Version –
Hard Boiled violent gangster film
This action thriller has been released in Pakistan cinemas and multiplexes. The public response at the main single screen large cinemas is very good and equally encouraging at the multiplexes and we are confident that Wanted would be block buster of 2009. It is predicted by the film distributors that WANTED will break the records of GHAJNI. A Remake of Telugu film Pokiri titled Wanted Dead and Alive accustomed with the tale of craftily powerful officer who works for Mafia Don. His aim is to eradicate the hoodlums / vice by being in centre of their vicious circle. Veteran star Salman Khan plays the main singular role in the film. Ayesha Takia, Aseem Merchant and Mahesh Manjrekar——inter alia, are in the fleet that holds the latest action yarn.
The film is directed by Prabhudeva who also directed the original film. Music director pair Sajid /Wajid most probably have been twined into arranging the music-set up for the action project and the result is phenomenal in some treks. The highlight of Wanted is without question Salman Khan. He is all set to ensure that it makes a worth watch movie at the Cinemas / multiplexes and aggressively promotes the gravity envisaged. On this occasion Salman prima facie opted for a full action thriller instead of the regular mellow dramatic themes which he has been doing in earlier films and we have a violent outlook.
Wanted / POKIRI, was reportedly also remade in Tamil with the same screen title. In the Current version, Salman acts with Ayesha Takia Azmi, who resurface and captured the audience by her simple yet purely natural performance. Salman superbly portrays a hard-boiled gangster and Ayesha Takia plays a straightforward chic: who has the self-concept unrolled. Her life takes a 360 degree turn after confronting Salman. Ayesha Takia Azmi may be termed a strained comeback in the film but surprisingly impresees the viewers . This film should be imperative for Salman in letter and spirit on many fronts and indeed his best performance to date on the cinema screen.
Wanted totally rests on Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia looks very elegant in her role. Mahesh Manjrekar performs to the negative role assigned. Prakash Raj as Gani Bhai has limited/short but an integral role and superbly executed. The great star of yesteryear Mr Vinod Khanna has been given a role which may be dissatisfactory for him as being a senior artist but is quite instrumental to plot of the film. Aseem Merchant Govind Namdeo has worth of their participation in the film.
On the whole, Salman Khan is bound pull the audience to make this film successful at the box office.
Wanted is undisputedly a well-written story with brilliant screenplay and opens up with an interesting plot with commissioner Ashraf Khan who primarily focused to eliminate underworld reprehensible activities. Salman Khan in the film only knows the language of money and his loyalties is firmly tagged with any gang provided the money as per his dictates. Gani Bhai played by Prakash Raj gang under the wing Aseem Merchant the right hand of Gani and disloyalty to his accessible gang headed by Data Pawle leads to severe bloodshed, as disputes flare up without warning. However, story takes a random turn which compels Gani Bhai to take matters in his hands and fly back to India. Gani Bhai in the film did mastermind trap of commissioner Ashraf Khan, and the actual identity of Salman Khan should be one of the exciting factors that Prabhu Deva had in the film script and works well and keeping the audience spell bound.
Cinematography is first rate. Special effects are at par with any big budget Holly wood Flick; the music will be ephemeral for most cine-goers & is given relatively less importance and it may not click and people will not remember the lyrics but song sequences / set decoration are top-notch.
We would merit this film 8.7/10…….Excellent – Regards: Natasha t ali, Faisal Haider, Neha, Syed Ali, and Nadeem. —The Cinema Circle = Karachi Pakistan.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
wel personally i hate salman cos of his over acting and character. but since des many pepl r sayin d film is gud i m gonna watch it. wel vijay fans r sayin dat pokkiri was betr and i hav seen dat film and find it jst an average. wel letz c hw is wanted. not too much expectations though. and it cnt cum up to level of ghajini jst cos i hav watchd d tamil film pokkiri and the script is ok. and ya
AAMIR KHAN ROCKZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
October 6th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Hi….
Sallu is the KING of Acting, dreessing n also a Hero..
He has done good work in that movie.. great job salu.. my hero..
I hope salu will work like this in future.. best of luck sallu.. and salam to u n ur friends n also ur fans..
Pray for me..
October 9th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
this is tamil remake, wat a tamil film , i like to watch again in tamil. in tamil there is comedian name called vadivelu. he is second hero in tamil. in hindi he is missing. but overall tamil 5/5. hindi 5/4.85
October 9th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
The movie was ok but i strongly felt that many of the scenes are been copied from Hollywood movies like 13B. What I feel is that this movie comes nowhere to Gazini [as I saw some people compared the two]. I didn’t find any reality in the movie either. You guys may call me wrong but thats our opinion [by our I mean me and my friends]. As a movie freak I would rate it 2 out of 5.
Next time we would expect something to be realistic and enjoyable.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
i watched “WANTED” 10 TIMES, not becoz SALMAN KAHN is my fevourate, itz just i liked the movie very much. itz a great movie !! .
ghajini n wanted are similar but WANTED is better than ghajini.
wanted features salman khan in a new look.
all things are great in it.
my rating :-
STORY – 8/10
SONGS – 8/10
CAST – 10/10
PRESEnTATION – 10/10
OVER ALL 10 out of 10
itz really awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwsummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
SUPER HIT !!
MIND BLOWING !!
MUSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT WWWWAAAAAAAATTTTTCCCCCCHHHHHHH
October 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
SOME SONGS OF WANTED ARE GREAT !! ..
that is lyk JALWA is a great song …!
AND LOVE ME LOVE ME !! …..
n DIL LEKE is a very gud romantic song !! …
OVER ALL WANTED IS A GREAT MOVIE !! …………. as SALMAN IS A GREAT ACTOR ..!!
NOBODY CAN MATCH HIM !! …..
we all KNOW WANTED IS A TAMIL REMAKE !! …. but it duz not meanz that it is cheated . !! it is not an offence against anyone !! ….. it is just, it is BASED on it .
JUST REMEMBER POKIRI WAS TAMIL MOVIE n WANTED is MADE IN BOLLYWOOD
October 17th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Sallu bhi ur awesome
ur simply superb
October 29th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
First of all we give all of u special thanks to vry positive response of our movie Wanted….finally hard work of all artist and technicians matterlize superblly
special Thanks to all Audience of Wanted
Sunil Gajraj
Jamess.shashank@gmail.com
November 11th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
H!
my name is vishal i am from varanasi
i watch the movie 30/9/200, its an telugu remake to tamil and now in hindi. the hero in tamil its imitate the exact acting of telugu hero, and salman also done the same in each and every scene. bcaz of music and dance movie hits in tamil. any how the same shots same frames nothing has changeg. prabudeva done the same thing again he took telugu to tamil and vice-versa now he took hindi.
but this movie is so nice i love very much for salman khan i was very happy after watching wanted
so thank vishal
u salman Ayesha & directed
December 6th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
best film of 2009 salman should get best actor, but then if Aamir was not given best actor for ghajini, it is pretty clear that bollywood awards are trash, and i wouldn’t be suprise if he’s doen’t win also.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
i love salman khan the most handsome in the world nobody can win him….i love all the movie..