However, many of the peripheral characters, specially the corrupt villainous caucus, are purely caricatural. If subtlety is your big cinematic turn-on, then 'Kisaan' may not be your cup of tea... or should that be glass of 'lassi'?

'Kisaan' is like a tall spiced-up glass of 'lassi', without cream. It's an unabashed celebration of old-fashioned melodrama with dollops of bone-crunching action in the last 30 minutes that leaves us wondering if Manoj Kumar ever imagined that the fight to hold on to the land could ever get so violent and bloody.

The principal characters seem to inhabit rural Punjab with comforting familiarity. The ambience is conducive to a demonstration of flamboyant emotions. The direction is often ramrod straight and literal. The film's charm lies in its ability to be an old-fashioned cliche without getting wobbly.

However, the Punjabi songs and the hideous remix of Mahendra Kapoor's 'Mere Desh ki Dharti' get on the nerves. But Sanjoy Chowdhary's background music is first-rate in its ability to replicate the characters' emotional graph.

Among the actors Sohail stands tall, quite often taller than the material given to him.