Based on the heist English-talking movie from Philippines (Blind Rage – 1978) or not, this is a new experience for the Indian cinema. But unfortunately old habits die hard ! There are many problems that ruined the good material. First, it is the bore. Some scenes could have been shorter. And the songs did interrupt the pace. But aside from being part of the original formula in their movie-making, it's in the Indian blood to sing !Secondly, the second half. All of it is nearly a long joke. Since the start of the heist, things ranged between being a heist movie and a ridiculous comedy. How many times (Amitabh Bachchan) got into the operation; that was enough to suspect him. Look at the incredibly hideous make-up of the blind thieves; it's like "we're masked thieves, come and get us" !!. Confessing everything, with the names and the places of the robbers, in front of the driver they chose was beyond dumb. And the changing of the boards that tell the place and time of every single scene; was at first thrilling, then it turned into something unnecessary and pure annoying !Then, we come to the terrible matter of the last 15 minutes. The end of the drunken blind man; here's melodrama fits a damn usual Indian movie. The girl kills herself while she doesn't know the place of her brother; this is the "blind" Indian tragedy at its best ! Let alone things like : the gang is having all of their fights, screams, gunshots while the door of the villa, where the training center is, is WIDE OPEN (so the neighbors are deaf !), the situation of "switch the light off, so we're equal now" gave the worst remake ever for (Wait Until Dark – 1967) since the lights were on everywhere, and the faces of the actors were so clear, the police officer believes that the 2 living members of the gang are blind so fast, and last but not the least the too much dialog at the end when (Bachchan) is trying to prove the very members guilty gave me a real headache !Thirdly, the acting. Surely with that atmosphere the matters must grow bad. I don't think that the 3 actors who acted the blind men got any time to watch and observe actual blind men. Their performance was fake, without the small details that a role of that kind demands. In a word : they were actors who act as blind. The big B takes on a fine role, being an evil man for a rare, very rare, time which says a lot about an actor in him who wants to take chances. And although he was great in his silent scenes as angry wounded man and wily mastermind, but in his talking scenes he raised his voice a lot, and gone theatrical. Now I think this is the appropriate time to blame the director of this movie !So…songs, melodrama, naive points, too much dialog; it's the same old Indian cinema all over again and in its so weak shape as well. The ambition to be different was tangible, but it isn't enough alone. Obviously, nature beats nurture…and this movie too !

I really enjoyed this. I had come to watch it not knowing what to expect. I had heard the part about all the characters being blind but not much else. What i discovered was an excellent bank heist thriller with great turns from Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar (who i normally don't like, in fact i thought he was very good in this).Even arjun rampal, who is a very dull screen personality, came across well. I always find he is better playing blind guys (see also VAADA) or villains (see Om Shanti Om). Sushmita Sen was great, she is very pretty, i wish the romance between her and arjun could have been developed a little more (or maybe they should do another film together as they make a nice pair)but it probably would have spolied the tone of Aankhen.Overall it was a film that really draws you in. The plot was good and the ending made me wish for a sequel!

A surprisingly good offering from Bollywood. A bank robbery is planned by a disgruntled ex-employee who is upset because he was fired. The plan involves recruiting 3 blind people, training them, etc. The goal, of course, is to rob the bank while making all the witnesses believe that the perpetrators were not blind. If they are caught, who would believe that they were the thieves, right ? But, twists, double crosses and love-twists abound. Understandably, filming such an intricate plot elegantly is beyond Bollywood writers/directors. The plot gets somewhat flimsy at places, where the director tries to forcibly insert some bollywood-ese sections. On the whole, a worthwhile film to watch. Amitabh shines. Paresh Rawal's melodrama is painful to watch. One gets the idea that this was an attempted copy of some Hollywood film.

I confess having taken this film by mistake from the video renting store shelves, and this is a mistake that I regret. I have seen wonderful Indian films like 'Monsoon Wedding', and very good films films made by Indian directors working in the US or UK. 'Aankhen' (anybody knows what this means?) however belongs to the cheap entertainment category. It seems to try to confirm all the evil rumors about Indian films - cheap melodrama mixed with infantile comedy, emphatic acting, and video clips like songs inserted in the film, cutting the logic of the story. The film certainly tries to do some things that are different - the idea of the story is original enough, and I would not be surprised if some big US studio will buy and do a remake in the future. The main actor is very good (but the haircut!!!), and the first half of the film builds some tension, unfortunately completely lost in the second half, which would have gotten an 'unsatisfactory' rate for logic and story telling at any decent cinema art school. The Indian cinema may be very prolific, and millions of people may like this kind of films, but sorry, this is not for me. I hope another truly good film will come soon to re-establish my faith in the Indian cinema. 3 out of 10 on my personal scale.