Movie Race 2: Abbas-Mustan Losing The Race This Time!

Honestly speaking, there is no need of writing a review for a listless movie called Race 2, still I decided upon writing one, definitely not as review of the movie but as a lament on Abbas-Mustan, the most exciting director duo of Bollywood, for their ‘twisted’ attempt of crafting another suspense thriller, a genre where they proved their mastery beyond doubt for over two decades.

Known for the landmark Bollywood films like Khiladi (1992), Baazigar (1993),  Daraar (1996),  Soldier (1998), Baadshah (1999) and Ajnabee (2001) which were also major successes at the box office, the director duo always remained truthful to the popular formula format of drama-comedy-action-music-dance and yet dished out convincingly genuine entertainers in the suspense-action genre. The slick and breathless moments of suspense taken forward with enlivening pace has made all major Abbas-Mustanmovies really memorable. The other technical details like photography, sound track, editing and music too have always been masterfully done to support the total product. Personally speaking, I always relished the Abbas-Mustan moments and waited for their movies every time. This is despite the fact that almost all of their blockbusters were influenced by Hollywood flicks. In India nobody minds copying as long as they do it expertly and convincingly.

Unfortunately, the magic somewhat had gone downhill since the early years of the new millennium. The expert duo checked and prevented this trend in Race (2008) which became the fourth biggest grosser of the year. The ‘twisted’ tale of Abbas-Mustan had also begun with this movie as they seemed to depend on twists more than on the overall script. Though full of twists, Race was a convincing flick thanks to the intensity of the relationships shown, a well woven plot, spectacular chase and action scenes and the usual Abbas-Mustan doses. But things got worse since 2008 and the pulsating duo was on the verge of being forgotten, even by me. They seemed to be running out of ideas and maybe because of that they thought of making a sequel to very successful Race. That decision also garnered renewed expectations and anticipation among their loyal fans and serious movie lovers.

Race 2 that released on January 25 all over has, sadly, nothing to offer but twists and more twists. The movie does have the Abbas-Mustan moments, but these fall flat due to the lack of a script and characterization and music-to name only a few. Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapur—the only remnants of the original—do look intense or jocular, but their performances add up to nothing really. John Abraham oddly paired with ‘sister’ Deepika Padukone does precious little to ‘race’ up the movie. More ominously, the director duo is also found to be depending more than usual on body exposure and double meaning dialogues this time. Loyal viewers are also smart as they get to believe nothing that happens in the film, because they get used to expecting twists and more twists. The predictability of twists becomes hilarious at times. Such an unflinching treat of twists! 

Sad though, Abbas-Mustan still has their dexterity and craftsmanship. What they desperately need at the moment is a good script. Hope the director duo would not fall to the trap of making Race 3 as being reportedly gossiped and look for fresh subjects. That Race 2 has still been able to do good business at the Box Office is proof enough of their popularity and acceptance.

Give them a good script and they will get back to making wonders.

Movie ‘Agent Vinod’: Gripping Espionage Thriller!

Saif Ali Khan’s most ambitious movie ‘Agent Vinod’—the title borrowed from the spy flick made in 1977--got released all over on March 23, 2012. The movie in its second week has not yet been declared a hit and its business is not overwhelming. It has earned quite a few bad reviews and caustic comments from Indian movie goers. The mood for the film seems to be biased, per-conceived and downright unworthy.

In fact I too was misled by a prominent review and was happy not to have already booked for it. But a few others made me confused and I finally decided to watch the movie to judge for myself. I took the risk on April 1^st itself, but was pleasantly surprised at not being made an April fool in the slightest.My wife also confirmed the same sentiment. 

Agent Vinodis a hardcore spy flick which is also a rare genre in India. Though the title is borrowed from the Agent Vinod movie made in 1977 this not a remake and there is no resemblance in the storyline or its dress and style codes. While Mahendra Sandhu became a household name in the key role of spy Agent Vinod that became a surprise hit, Saif Ali Khan in the same role in a more stylized, intelligent, well-structured and complicated version is still struggling to establish his new found identity. 

The basic plot of the movie is a nuclear bomb being taken to its destination and its detonator transferred in the innocuous garb of Omar Khayyam’s Rubbaiyat through an extraordinary auction.  Murder of a colleague takes Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan)—a secret agent from an Indian intelligence agency—to Moscow with the only clue of code ‘242’ and after shootouts with the suspect Abu Nazer ( Ram Kapoor) gang Vinod follows leads to arrive in Morocco. There he confronts David Kazan (Prem Chopra—the baddie of the classic era of Hindi cinema) and his mysterious beautiful assistant Dr. Ruby (Kareen Kapur). After a series of intrigued conflicts laced with wry humor Vinod discovers the enormity of the auction and finds himself in hot pursuit of the elusive Colonel (Adil Hussain). 

Through high-paced action, twists and turn the movie takes you on a global tour starting from Afghanistan, Moscow, Russia, and Morocco and through Riga, even Somalia, Cape Town, Karachi to finally climax in New Delhi and London with shootouts, Hitchcock-type suspense at times, breathtaking car and auto-rickshaw chases and extraordinary locales. Apart from keeping you engrossed it never even allows you to think where it is leading you to. Seemingly unconnected scenes will remain so for you if you do not follow the well-knit and intelligent script. Brilliant cinematography and razor-sharp editing add to the pleasure of watching. When you finally feel it is all over in New Delhi you are taken to London for another shattering climax. Mystery concerning the characters of Dr. Ruby, the Colonel and Mr. Metla gives you the suspense treat and surprises. At one or two points you feel there are link breaks, but you can think it over only after the thrilling fare is over! 

Agent Vinod in no James Bond, no Bourne and not even Mahendra Sandhu. It is a most positive addition to the Indian spy film genre. It is not a typical Bollywood fare and maybe that is the reason why it is going over the heads of many movie goers. Maybe the marketing and publicity strategy for the movie was wrongly conceived projecting Saif as a funny and joker spy forgetting his path-breaking performance in Omkara. His punching-the nose-of-an NRI that was seen as a publicity stunt definitely did not help his movie. But eventually Agent Vinod is set to score high.

Kudos to director Sriram Raghavan who gave us slick flicks like Ek Haseena Thi and Johnny Gaddar earlier. We hope he will go on making sequels to Agent Vinod.  We fail to understand why people of Pakistan should miss out on this tremendous thriller that talks of better relations between our two countries rather than defaming Pakistan's intelligence agencies.

                                                                                                     NSNE8ZQF8VST (For Technorati)

The Celebrity Punch!

Hindi movie (read Bollywood) superstar hero Saif Ali Khan punched a South African businessman of Indian origin at a restaurant of five-star hotel in uptown Mumbai on the night of February 21, 2012. The superstar was in the company of his Bollywood-heroine wife Kareena Kapoor and few other friends including more celebrity actors. Saif was arrested and released on bail the next day evening.

The day following the midnight brawl all Indian news channels started devouring the huge story carrying bytes of the victims—South African businessman Iqbal Sharma and his dad-in-law. Saif Ali Khan could not be traced the whole day and the Mumbai police visited his residence leaving summons to come to police station immediately. The superstar was to be arrested anytime, cried on the news channels.

Iqbal Sharma revealed that he went to the restaurant along with his dad-in-law for dinner and they were deeply distracted by the noise emanating from the adjacent table occupied by the superstar and his friends. They complained repeatedly to no avail and finally decided to leave the hotel. At that time Saif chased them and punched Iqbal on his nose that started bleeding. His dad-in-law was also punched and pushed down the stairs by Saif’s friends. Getting admitted in a local hospital Iqbal further alleged that all in Saif’s group behaved like rowdy elements.

By evening of the eventful day Saif Ali Khan, eldest son of Indian cricket legend Tiger Pataudi who died only five months back, surrendered to police. He was arrested immediately and released on bail immediately too. Section 325 of the Indian Penal Code under which the actor was framed allows bail though imprisonment under the same section could go up to 7 years if found guilty in due course of trial.

Saif Ali Khan lodged a counter-charge alleging that Iqbal punched him first after a heated argument during which ladies in his groups were also insulted and humiliated. He only acted in self-defense; the movie hero fumed adding that the hotel close circuit cameras would definitely vindicate his stand later. Unfortunately latest reports today suggest that there is no CCTV footage as there were no cameras in that area where the fighting took place! 

                                                                 
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