less than the sum of its parts: Fakira

This movie should have been better. It's got great ingredients: Shashi Kapoor in "a masala film he made with gusto" (so said Aspi when he told me about the movie, and I agree!), the always reliable Shabana Azmi, Amrish Puri's brother as the bad guy, Danny Denzongpa, a comic sidekick who's not too annoying (Asrani), and lots of Recommended Masala Allowance features, like a drive-in lair, quite possibly the inspiration for the Charlie's Angels logo, a cool female bandit (Aruna Irani), a Clapper prototype (used to awesome effect during a fight), disguises, pigeons who deliver fire cracker-looking bombs, murdered parents, flames, Dussehra effigies, long-lost brothers, treachery, an undercover female cop, revenge, a charity auction, and steamy bits. Phew! Even with all of this, Fakira , except for the fun performances and the never-ending parade of delightful elements, didn't really do much for me. When I was reading Filmi Geek's review , which