Suspense Thrillers in bollywood has been frequently awful than not and most of them lacking the oozing mood and bleeding intrigue. Watching one would either make you feel guilty of wasting money or would make you fall asleep. This movie is far from that. In a single sentence I’d describe it as “A classic mystery at its finest”. There were lot of rumors that were being spread on how the plot resembles “The act of Providence” and that the entire plot might be adapted from the novel itself. First of all the movie quashes all of those rumors as it is not even remotely connected to the plot. As for the doubters, let me ask you something, “ Isn’t it great if a movie adapted from a novel turns out to be better than the novel itself rather than ending up to be a rather foolishly depicted shadow of the written piece of art?” . And how many bollywood movie have been capable of making copied plots worthy enough to be seen? The case of adapted plots and its relevance to bollywood movies is not a matter of concern here. So let me begin with the review instead.
The story is set in the background underbelly of aamchi Mumbai, an unforgiving brutal city where only the fittest can survive. The movie doesn’t follow the life of the three characters but instead the characters follow a story, an intriguing one at that. It all starts with a vegas style depiction of Mumbai, there is glitter , there are parties , prostitutes , pimps etc etc etc and in the midst we see an accident and the story is set in motion. Officer Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) is trying to uncover the mystery behind the death of an actor Armaan Kapoor. The case at first seems to be just a case of an accident but there is more to it than that what meets the eye. It seems to be quite complicated because there not enough leads to actually tell you whether it is a murder or is it just another freak accident but shekhawat’s instincts are telling him something else. And that instincts take him to Mumbai’s red light district where he meets a hooker “Rosy” played by Kareena. Rosy now joins him to help in finding the missing parts of the puzzle. By this point we are introduced to many other characters in the movie including a pimp , his girlfriend and his right hand man played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. His professional lives aside Shekhawat is salso struggling to cope up with the loss of his son which also has taken a toll on his wife’s health and their married life , his personal life too seems to be on the rocks. He has immersed himself into his professional life to cope up with that loss. A Rani Mukherjee sans the makeup plays his wife who after a lot of senseless movies seems to have become the Rani she once was, she has gotten well under the skin of the character. As the story unfolds shekhawat begins to struggle to identify his priorities, a part that aamir potrays brilliantly. I don’t want to spoil your experience of watching the movie by adding too many spoilers but rest assured that the movie should be there in your list of a definite must watch this weekend.
The main aspect of the movie is that nowhere throughout the plot will you feel that the movie revolves around the characters or any actor in particular, as I said earlier it’s the story that wins the race with the actors. You wont remember a Khan, a mukherjee or a kapoor (khan – kapoor now) .But you’d rather remember a Surjan, Rosy and Roshni. All the actors not just the three leads have done justice to their character. You will feel Shekhawat helplessness, his grief , his confusion. Kareena as Rosie is more sedating and convincing than the chameli act. She is at her best in the second half of the movie to a point that she overshadows Mr.perfectionist in most of the parts. Rani did not have much screen time in the movie. But whatever little she had, she has used it with the brilliance that matches her acting in Black. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is one brilliant piece of art; directors should take note of his brilliance in this movie. .
For a director doing just her second movie Reema Kagti has pulled of a masterclass. It’s a gripping tale, a paranoid masterpiece, a depiction of professional lives being destroyed due to inescapable convictions in a maddeningly intepretative landscape and meticulously written. The Screenplay is fantastic and complements the script which has enough intrigue suspense and red herrings to keep about any user riveted and glued to their seats for the entire length of the movie. The music if not top notch atleast comes close. Ram sampath has done a very good job. Guess all the “good jobs ‘have fell in the right place for this movie. If you are an aamir khan fan, your apetite will be more than satisfied. If you are not a fan then you will be one after you see this movie. Sorry for the spoiler btw.
MS: the review rating system is vague as someone pointed it out. Its time to change it asap. And hoe exactly is "prostitute" abusive?
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SlightlyDrunk