By Subhash K Jha, IANS

In the middle of this adventurous muddle we get to see a plug for Subhash Ghai's acting school.

Seems apt, considering a lot of the actors here ham through what looks like Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones (and the temple of utter doom).

Admittedly Sunny Deol in his comeback vehicle makes an endearing Indiana Jones. Hat in place, grin in sight Deol is gloriously goofy bringing in references to his legendary dad Dharmendra in a sizzled (but ear-unfriendly) number, playing against Viveik Oberoi's earnest but strained step-sibling.

Alas the duo never complements each other.

Remember Milan Luthria's KACHCHE DHAAGE where Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan went on a rugged adventure and discovered a brotherly bonding? That sense of growing closeness completely eludes Deol and Oberoi… or for that matter Oberoi and his romantic lead Sameera Reddy who's on for a rugged jaunt for no seeming reason except to add oomph to the bulging macho quotient.

The screenplay (Milap Zaveri/Tushar Hiranandani) apportions witticisms like plastic fruits on real trees.

The eye-cathching outdoor locations are used to inviting effect by cinematographer Vijay Arora who spans through the panoramic locales with fruity relish. But the characters are as over-the-top and uni-dimensional as electronic toys in a posh departmental store where the best items have been swept away at a summer bonanza sale.

What remains are the remnants of a dreadful day. The sunny countenance seems to come out of a squeezed-out tube. And there are continuity lapses (e.g Oberoi's off-and-on stubble) that shame the film's claims to being a true adventure story. And the humour is often of the most dreadful variety. There's a particularly obnoxious queer-funny sequence where handcuffed chote-bhai Oberoi wants his brother Sunny Deol to help him pee in the wilderness. Boy's day ouch?????

Forget the ecological desecration. The absolute lack of good taste in intermittent bouts of massy pleasuring stymies the flow of adventure… e.g. the pigmy tribals making merry havoc with the adventurous trio of protagonists, or the villain's moll who stands speechlessly in semi-naked splendour only to burst into a song about Nashaa Nashaa… or was it Naksha Naksha?

Too numbed to react to the film's self-conscious paciness, you still applaud the debutant director for his enterprising spirit.

When was the last time you saw a children's adventure story told with loads of sporty chutzpah?

This isn't quite the ultimate adventure story that Spielberg would have made. But NAKSHA has an interesting look and feel to it. The feeling however isn't even skin-deep. It's just … stilted and shallow.