I had stopped watching Hindi movies as often as I previously used to. That was more on account of their deteriorating standards than out of any other constraint. It was sheer boredom and the irrepressible humidity (so typical of Mumbai) that drove me into a nearby theatre so that I could atleast enjoy the cool comfort of the A/c there.
While my only intention was to catch a nap or two in the theatre, I ended up sitting on the edge of my seat for a major portion of the movie. There is no disputing the fact that the movie has a good storyline and is well made but I couldn’t help noticing some striking similarities with Alfred Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder”, Mukul Anand’s “Aitbaar” and the more recent “The Perfect Murder”. Even discounting the “copy and paste” job done by the story writers, the movie comes out as a decent amalgam comprising all thriller ingredients rather than a badly concocted smorgasbord of hodge-podge plots.
Raj Singhania (Bobby Deol) is a prodigal business tycoon and hogs newspaper headlines as the most eligible bachelor in the country. His shipping company buys the luxury cruiser “Super Star Virgo” and the cruiser is slated for a journey from Singapore to God-knows-where. Miss Dream Queen (Amisha Patel) and Mr. Schemer (Akshaye Khanna) are a part of a dance troupe who desperately want to win the contract to perform on board the cruise ship on its voyage. A bumbling liftman, a five minute interview with Bobby, a dance audition and a murder later, Akshaye and his troupe finally get the coveted contract. Its love at first sight for Mr. Tycoon as he spots Amisha from behind a one-way mirrored door doing a small jig in front of his office.
Ami baby reciprocates Bobby Baba’s “lovely” feelings and by the end of the first half bobby proposes and Amisha accepts. The first twist occurs here just before the interval as we get to know that AK and Amisha (who already love each other) hatch a scheme wherein Amisha marries Bobby, gets a large chunk of property written in her name and then seeks divorce from him. Attaboy! Some scheme, that!
The first 30 minutes of the second half act as a dampener to the pace of the story well maintained till then. Inanities like “maine mannat maange thi ki shaadi ke baad 30 din tak kunwarapan maintain karoongi” creep in at this point of time and the spate of “mannat maanging” reaches such levels of digression that the movie loses all the pace and suspense assiduously built up till then.
However, the last 40 minutes or so of the movie are full of sudden twists and turns. It would be unsporting of me to divulge the remainder of the story but suffice to say that the tag of a “thriller” fits the movie to the proverbial T. Of course, in their enthusiasm to inject more adrenalin into the movie, the director duo end up squeezing in too many of them till the last minute, but who’s complaining as long as it doesn’t begin to get on the viewers nerves?
Cheeky says…
The performances are absolutely top class by the lead cast. Bobby Deol lends just the right degree of maturity and restraint in his role as the business magnate who falls in love with a seemingly innocent looking lass. The transformation in him when he discovers that she is in cahoots with her lover to dupe him is brought out very well.
Amisha does a fairly decent job as Ak’s half-hearted accomplice and turns in a sincere performance too. The cake, undoubtedly goes to Akshaye khanna who turns out to be a scene stealer, especially in the last part of the movie. He exudes supreme confidence in every scene, be it when he feigns jealousy on seeing Bobby Deol courting Amisha or when he shrewdly, almost turns the tables on Bobby Deol in the end. Here is an actor of the caliber of Sean Penn but it’s a pity that we don’t get to see more of him more often.
The story and screenplay are gripping, though not original. The direction is pretty fast paced and holds enough thrills to keep the viewers engaged throughout. Here again, the director duo stick to their tried and tested formula of gory violent fights dripping with blood and people being spiked to death at the drop of a hat. The songs are nothing worth humming about, except for one or two but the background score very ably complements the proceedings on the screen – kudos to Himesh Reshammiya for that.
If you’re the kind who visits the theatre to enjoy something more than just the A/c, the popcorn or the crowd, I’d suggest you to watch this movie. I enjoyed watching it and left the theatre with the feeling of “paisa vasool”. Go, watch it, you can’t expect a better thriller than this from Bollywood.