This is one AWESOME film. There is a whole lot of hue and cry that it is a straight lift from Phonebooth. Well, you can judge for yourselves. Phone booth is a movie about this loose character guy who cheats on his wife and gets trapped in a phone booth (while making a call to his girlfriend)by a sniper in a high-rise building who insists that either he confesses his cheating or gets himself/his wife/his girl friend killed. Knock out's similarity lies in that it is also a movie with a guy held up in a phone booth by a sniper, but the reason is political- regarding Indian politicians hoarding the tax payers money in swiss bank. Unlike Phone booth, Knock Out has a solid motive going for the sniper. It has Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan to do the title roles which they do with so much intensity and screen presence that you'll forget everything else. It is also more funny and colourful, what with Irrfan forced to dance to "Zara zara touch me touch me touch me". O God! I was in splits after that and had to re watch it several times. The pace of the film is tense and the drama convincingly gritty. The comedy is real good comedy and not the Hindi film staple of Johny Leverish headache inducing hamming. The action sequences are good. Kangana, Satish, Gulshan Grover are apt in their roles. Gulshan is especially good as the corrupt politician and never overplays it. This has to be one of Sanjay Dutt's and Irrfan's great movies. Kudos to the director for making a movie on a much needed topic with such aplomb. And-it is a whole deal better than Phone booth!
