When Director Duo Abbas-Mustan made their first suspense thriller Khiladi it really hit the top of the charts.They were supposed to give one suspense film after the other.They succeeded in some movies and in some they did not fare well at all.Ajnabee, their latest offering leaves you you somewhere in the middle.It is good in parts and lagging in some.
The very theme of wife swapping is somewhat thrilling and controversial in India but nevertheless we see so many advertisements in the print media s well as personals posted on the net by broad minded couples seeking other broad minded couples.I personally would not give support to such a venture.But let us leave it at that, because after all ours is a free country.We are free to do as we choose.
So, we have Raj(Bobby Deol) who falls in love with Priya(Kareena Kapoor) and within a few reels they are married to each other.Raj gets a job as a polo instructor in a club in Switzerland and he shifts there.Now, their next door neighbor is a happily married couple.They are Vicky(Akshay Kumar) and Sonia(Bipasha Basu).They get introduced to each other as good neighbors do and become friendly with each other very fast.Next thing you know they are going off to Mauritius for a holiday too, where Sonia starts making passes at Raj and he does not take this kindly.
He starts maintaining his distance from her until one day Vicky suggests the impossible to Raj.Exchange their wives for a night of fun.Raj really gets mad and later Vicky apologises to him for it.And then things start hotting up.One of the girls gets murdered.Who did it?The finger points at Raj.How he gets out of the whole mess makes up for the rest of the flick.
Both Akshay and Bobby perform well for once.The pace of the movie is quite racy, but for the comedy track which is quite unnecessary.Sometimes, Johny Lever gets on my nerves.He is too loud at times as the couples’ Bengali neighbor.Sadly Kareena Kapoor is wasted over here.She is not required to act over here except to look glamorous.Bipasha Basu is at once glamorous and sexy to look at and has performed well for a new comer.She should make it to the top with some good plum roles.
The theme of wife swapping is not handled in a mature way considering the response by so many religious groups in India who might take umbrage at this kind of a subject being featured.So the directors have steered clear of showing anything untoward.It is only referred to in the movie and nothing of the sort happens actually.But one point the flick drives home is to never trust strangers.Which is very true for today’s times.But then people still manage to get fooled.The cinematography by Rajan Kinagi is very eye pleasing.The music by Anu Malik is good for the Mehbooba number sung by Adnan Sami.It is a pity that there not many suspense movies being made by Bollywood directors.As suspense movies go this one is not bad at all.though you have a sense of deja vu by the time the intermission comes on.Well then see it if you have nothing better to do.