Two bruised hearts, 8-year-old Naomi (Diya) and Kabir (John) find solace in each other. They are both lonely and nursing psychological scars and mysterious tragedy. Naomi's mother is a drug addict-peddler and Kabir loses the only person he loves. The talkative kid-next-door becomes the reclusive pawn shop owner's only reason to live. When her life is endangered, his soul is awakened once again.

Up until 2007, Ram Gopal Varma had built up a rhythm as a director. Then all went upwards (you know where I mean). He go so emboldened with his creativity that he decided to make an unauthorized remake of the 1975 cult classic, SHOLAY. He decided to call it RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG. History records that the film bombed big time. RGV lost his rhythm and his bloated ego went phuss!

John Abraham and Nishikant Kamat had teamed up for the first time to come up with Force, the remake of a South flick and after liking the film, we naturally anticipated that the duo will come up with another hit with Rocky Handsome, which is the remake of a Korean flick. However, unfortunately, the 'forceful' duo fumbled the ball this time rather clumsily, much to our disappointment.

With the long weekend in place, this definitely looks like a fun week for movies. On the films' front, this week sees the release of the action packed ROCKY HANDSOME that stars Bollywood's action hero John Abraham. While there have been many action films that Bollywood has witnessed, this week's release promises to be a bit different as it also shows a strong bond between John Abraham and a small girl.

If you call a film Rocky Handsome, you had better deliver what the title promises: action that would do Sly Stallone proud plus a handsome man. Rocky Handsome does not fall short on those fronts. They say 1 Helen is the amount of beauty required to launch a thousand ships. The reference, of course, is to the legendary looks of Helen of Troy from Greek mythology - she who possessed "the face that launched a thousand ships". What do the Greeks know of such things?

Nayomi and Handsome share a strange friendship. They are joined by their love for fish, and are similar in their unwanted-ness. Nayomi has a cokehead of a mother Anna (Nathalia Kaur), who routinely gets into trouble because of her addiction. Nayomi and Handsome find solace in each other's company until the latter walks away from her when she calls him her dad in front of the cops. Torn by guilt, when Handsome gets back to his house and ponders over it all, Nayomi and Anna are kidnapped in a drug-theft related case. And all hell breaks loose.

They may be doing it legitimately now. But they're still doing it wrong. Nishikant Kamat's Rocky Handsome, an official remake of South Korean hit The Man From Nowhere, is about a pawnbroker on a single-minded mission to rescue his seven-year-old neighbour from a bunch of neurotic gangsters engaged in a disturbing racket of drug mafia, child trafficking and organ harvesting. I watched the original many years ago, a fairly foreseeable plot in the same space as Leon: The Professional (also remade in Hindi as Bichhoo), but its blunt, brutal action is still fresh in my mind.

The film opens to a faintly visible fishing dock, shrouded by heavy downpour. A silhouette of the lead emerges from a distance, hooded like a serial killer from a 90s slasher film. He stops at a roadside vendor, stares at the pomfrets on display and even fondles a few. The irate fisherwoman isn't amused, "Khaana hain ki paalna hain." He twists his face and moves on. The natural curiosity his forced mysterious manner evokes is a prelude to his back story, which one learns over the course of the film. But his unusual reserve tells right away that it isn't a pleasant one.

The Man From Nowhere is a decent action film from Korea, made back in 2010. Rocky Handsome is just a cheap knock off, made in India. It's literally the same film, complete with almost the same screenplay sequences, shot again in Indian locations. The little liberties taken at adapting this film to its current setting are just stupid. The one decent thing about Rocky Handsome is its hand-to-hand combat sequences. They're not as good as the original, but in terms of action quality they are leagues ahead of the usual cable-inspired stunts you get in Hindi films. Watching this film can be a test in your ability to suspend disbelief.

A mysterious hunk, infamously known as Handsome (John Abraham) is living a secluded life in Goa. He has a neighbour who is an 8 year old sweet girl, living with her drug addict mother. The girl likes to spend time with Rocky but he is too stubborn to appreciate it. One day, her mother Anna (Nathalia Kaur) steals drugs from the drug mafia of Goa. Eventually, she gets caught but for this heinous crime, even her daughter gets kidnapped with Anna. This is where Rocky decides to save the innocent girl and give her deserving childhood back.

'Rocky Handsome' has some interesting characters. Two Konkani-speaking bald brothers hamming their way through the worst of scenes, a precocious child (with hair that suspiciously looks like a wig), a lady who when drugged out behaves like she's orgasming, a cop who cracks bad jokes, a heroine who is so stereotypical that she is chirpy, wants to break into a song in the rains, and massages her tummy all the time when she's pregnant. This heroine (Shruti Haasan) is, mercifully, just playing a cameo.

Goa is the new north India for the Hindi film industry. Filmmakers know the formula: Sinister-looking foreigners, local gangsters wearing floral shirts, drug trafficking and bars with Russian boards. All they need to throw in is one or two peppy dance numbers and slow motion action sequences. And yes, that old Goa church is mandatory. Mix the ingredients according to your choice and you're ready with another morally upright, vengeful hero ready to take on the world. The director's job gets even more defined if he is a fan of Korean films or secretly loves Jason Bourne

Unapologetically gory and visceral, Rocky Handsome revels in relentless violence. But for a film about a 'trained assassin' and his bonding with a hapless child in desperate need of help, it is woefully low on emotional muscle. The result is a slick, stylistically derivative neo-noir thriller that is surprisingly humdrum. A full-on rehash of a 2010 Korean action flick (The Man from Nowhere), Rocky Handsome is set in a Goa where criminal cretins crawl out of every conceivable crevice.

A drug-mafia infested Goa plus menacing mobsters plus a little girl who goes missing plus a muscled man on a mission is equal to 'Rocky Handsome'. What all of it basically comes down to is this: a sculpted John Abraham donning a black singlet-pajamas-combat cap, walking slo-mo down corridors, beating the c-p out of sundry bad guys. Or slashing holes into 'em. Same difference. That is the sole purpose of this film.