Bollywood seems to be running out of ideas. This is certainly made clear by Rajkumar Kohli new film, 'Jani Dushman-Ek Anokhi Kahani', that is one more film based on the theme of reincarnation. Holllywood too has a lot of films on the subject of rebirth but no director there is so desperate or foolish to repackage his own past films. But Kohli has no such inhibitions. He has opted for a rehash of two of his past hits, 'Nagin' and 'Jani Dushman'.

It is difficult to see how the film will appeal to anybody except diehard fans of 'action'. For 'action' is possibly the only saving grace in the film. There are some brilliantly shot scenes, with the inspiration, of course, coming from Hollywood (Arnold Schwarzenneger's 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day').

Kohli is trying his best to establish his son, Arman, as a hero and here he is introduced in the credits as 'Munish Kohli'. 'Jani Dushman--Ek Anokhi Kahani' also sees Sonu Nigam making his debut on the silver screen.

'Jani' is the story of two lovers, Kapil (Munish Kohli) and Vasundhara (Manisha Koirala), who have been ordained to be reincarnated in the 21st century. Vasundhara is now Divya, who studies in college and is part of a fun loving group. She loves Karan (Sunny Deol). While Karan is away on some business, she fallsprey to Rajesh (Rajat Bedi) and Madan's (Siddhartha) foul plans. They ask her to meet them on Valentines Day and, horror of horrors, rape her. Her eventual death upsets and angers Kapil no end. He is out to finish the perpetrators of the vile deed. Aiding him in the task are some supernatural powers.

Kohli relies in this film on time-tested formulae. He brings together three 'action heroes', Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty and Akshay Kumar, but this does not exactly help the cause as the film has a very weak backbone. It does manage to build up some pace before the interval but afterwards it tapers off.

The dialogue by K.K.Singh is tepid at places for an 'action film'. Kohli has relied on the services of two cinematographers and two action directors, but the switch from one technician to another is quite apparent in the film and contributes to its jerky narration. The music by Anand Milind, Anand Raj Anand and Sandeep Chowta is disappointing.

Kohli has also not been excellent in bridging the gap between different characters. He tried hard to give his each and every artist footage as per his or her box-office value but it is Akshay Kumar who overshadows all others. For Sonu Nigam it is not an appropriate film to start with. Sunny Deol's role is more of a special appearance sort. Manisha Koirala looks too old to play a college girl and is not a perfect choice to be cast against Munish who looks years younger to her. There is also a long list of supporting artists. Raja Murad, Johny Lever and Kiran Kumar may have got some substance to deliver, but other artists like Jaspal Bhatti, Sahbaz Khan, Aman Verma and others are wasted Kiran Rathod shines among the crowd. She needs some really good films under big banner otherwise days are not far when she will find herself being part of history. Aftab Shivdasani is a perfect match for her. On the whole Jani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani's fate will rely on oral publicity. It has good chance to fare at box-office as there have not been good action men in the recent past and neither are there many films like this in coming days. The film's fate will also decide whether multistarrer will stay or vanish.