An emsemble starcast, talk of the town music, engrossing promos, exquisite upmarket look, frankly speaking Race had a number of factors going in its favor. An early entry into the theatre and you can decipher from the faces that they are expecting just an engaging entertainer, not an edge of the seat who-dun-it. That’s fair enough because latter is just not the kind of the cinema Bollywood is known for.
As the film starts, we hear the familiar voice of Anil Kapoor narrating the story for us, introducing the characters one by one. Two brothers played by Saif Ali khan and Akshay Khanna who can do anything for each other, but it seems that the elder brother has got more than his share. A secretary(Katrina Kaif) who cares for him and a lady love(Bipasha Basu) he cares for, but when his alcoholic brother finds his soulmate in his ladylove, he happily steps aside for the sake of his brother. So what is Abbas Mustan doing here, tormenting us with a "bhai-bhai ka pyaar" kind of tele opera? Well half an hour passes by and the story unfolds its first twist, a twist so predictable that you will crumble in your seat thinking, "yaaaa.wn, as if this was the surprise that almost stopped my heartbeat, huh!". Well, I don’t want to reveal the rest of the story although its not as if this will completely ruin the essense of the movie, but you sure will enjoy it more, if caught totally unaware.
Watching RACE is like reading a Sheldon’s novel where twists and turns keep inundating you from time to time, whenever you thought you had the epiphany where the story is moving ahead, it changes its course of direction, but the disappointing fact is that most of the twists in the story are either predictable or unwanted. The Director duo seem to be inspired from "Wild Things", which is a stepping stone for all, who want an incessant flow of twists and turns in a story starting from the beginning till the end.
Talking about the performaces, Anil Kapoor is leading the pack with his one-liners which sure is going to be aplauded by the masses as well as by the Animal Husbandary Ministry because of the Fruits-Expo(a la Auto-Expo) displayed by our investigating officer. This role is an exact replica of what Akshay Khanna did in 36 China Town, only this time it just got better with Anil Kapoor. Joining hands with him is sultry Sameera Reddy, who was supposed to be playing a Dumb Bimbette, or rather a supposedly Dumb Bimbette. I am as much confused as her character was looking onscreen. However she looked every bit of both, a dumbo *as well as a *bimbo. If she continues to accept these kind of roles, very soon she will be seen doing an item number in regional movies.
Akshay Khanna is predictable from the scene one, it becomes clear in the start that his role is very much on the lines of what he did in Humraaz. Though he acted fine enough, but there is a sense of deja vu in each of his expressions. Now comes the gorgeous, alluring *and *ravishing Katrina Kaif or I should rather say plastic, expressionless *and * statuesque Katrina Kaif.* It’s not like she is a bad actress, she just can’t act at all.* I wonder when she would be able to do anything apart from smiling and uttering those not-so-innocent *dialogues from her *oh-so-innocent face. Anyway she looks fabulous(as always), and that’s the reason why she was in the film, so I guess nobody should complain.
Now about the leading pair, Saif Ali Khan told once after DCH, that he had come a long way from his "Aashiq Awara" and "Yeh Dillagi" days, but watching Saif in Race makes you realize that he has again come a long way from his "DCH" and "Kacche Dhaage" days. He looks menacing, tough and senewy. Though his role didn’t demand much histrionics but he played it with elan. The industry was once used to be termed as a world of three khans and a Govinda, now it’s a world of three khans and an Akshay Kumar. It’s time we should ameriolate the term as "four khans" instead of "three khans". Bipasha Basu is the one who got the meatiest part in the franchise, and she makes most of it. She looks hot, has displayed ample skin, which was a little surprising(though a pleasant one(lol)), delivered a sincere performance and considering the fact that she is no Tabu, I think she has shown a lot of sincerity in her performance.
Abbas Mustan once made "khiladi" which is the only real suspense flick, this so called master of suspense are known for. I feel pity for Hitchcock who once used to have complete ownership of this coveted tag. Though they have directed several succesul films, most of them were either revenge dramas or sublime thrillers borrowed from their hollywood counterparts. With the passage of time, they have learnt the rules of industry with astuteness. Throw in some hot item numbers, put in some emotional rivalry, give grey shades to almost every character, and end the film at a positive note unlike "Baazigar"(I loved the ending!). These reciped films of him made me ridicule him in the past, but in "Race" he is a lot better than compared to his earlier movies
Music of the movie has been rocking all charts since the past three months. Visually the movie is stunning, kudos to the cinematographer for capturing the luscious locales of South Africa in a diligent way. Huge starcast, aggressive promos have facilitated the movie embarking on a bumper start, which is only going to boosted in the absence of a competitor. If you like Abbas Mustan’s kind of movie, watch it, it’s better than most of his previous attempts. Even if you don’t, still you can give it a chance.
Hey guys, forgive me for writing this, but couldn’t stop myself.
Intentional Comedy scene: The two minute sequence with Johny Lever before the climax where he keeps telling Katrina, "bura mat maanna behen", Hilarious.
Unintensional Comedy Scene: Watch Katrina crying after her husband’s death, was supposedly a tragic scene, but couldn’t be more funny than this, (rofl).