Movie Reviewing
Today I ended up watching 3 movies back 2 back in adlabs with a very good friend of mine. The 1st movie we watched was the 1st day 1st show of Johnny Gaddar. Now this was a movie i had been looking forward to from a long time since i saw the trailer. It promised an edge of the seat adrenaline rush , some good thrills and an overall watchable movie. Plus all the pre-movie buzz was in favour of the movie. Some people like the folks at www.passionforcinema.com whose opinion i normally trust when it comes to movies had given it a thumbs-up and had hailed it as one of the better movies of the thriller genre. So naturally i was hooked and wanted to watch it. Anyways, enough of my rambling, it's better to get on with the review.
The movie begins with a black'n'white sequence on a rainy night and a man getting shot from behind. From here we move to an imaginatively designed opening credits which reminds one of the glory days in the 70s. We're introduced to the main players of the movie.
The 5 are told by Naidu of a heist in Bangalore through which they can make 2.5 crores within 5 days. However during the heist, something goes wrong leading to a series of murders, mishaps and mayhem.
The 1st half of the movie literally moves at a break-neck speed leaving you no time to breathe or even blink your eyes and stops at a cliffhanger at the intermission. However after the intermission, it moves pretty much at a relaxed pace letting the frustration, guilt and fear of the protagonist (Or should i say antagonist!) sink into the audience. From there , the movie just keeps twisting and turning keeping you hooked throughout and finally leads to a twist ending which leaves you gasping for breath and makes you go "Oh my God, I didn't see that one coming!".
Dharmendra is as good as ever and makes full use of his charisma and genuine warmth for people in this movie. Neil Mukesh makes a confident debut and hopefully we should see more of him in the future. Zakir Hussain and Vinay Pathak are simply terrific with excellent performances. The rest of the cast ably supports the story.
The best part about the movie is that it never stops moving. No unnecessary sub-plots or songs to spoil the mood that was built up by the previous scene like in most movies. Sriram Raghavan who made a promising debut with Ek Hasina Thi (A fantastic thriller in its own right) goes a step ahead and makes a faster and grittier thriller. The movie has been shot stylishly and gives Mumbai a dark look given before in movies like Satya etc. The background music is equally racy and doesn't jar on the nerves of the audience.
The songs of the movie provide some of the background music and help the story move forward. Especially the title track which has to be one of the better songs heard by us lately.
Overall the movie has lived up to expectations, Its biggest plus point being the fact that it treats its audience as people with normal intelligence levels and doesn't spoon feed them. Only negative point is the lack of publicity for the movie as compared to crap like Dhamaal or Dhol etc. Anyways i guess, word of mouth publicity should help the movie to a large extent.
The movie begins with a black'n'white sequence on a rainy night and a man getting shot from behind. From here we move to an imaginatively designed opening credits which reminds one of the glory days in the 70s. We're introduced to the main players of the movie.
- Sheshadri (Dharmendra), a retired criminal by profession, but a gentleman by nature. On the surface, a very humble and charming person, but actually a very intelligent man with a razor sharp mind and equally sharp eyes that can size up a person on sight.
- Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Crudeness is his middle name. He doesn't believe in subtleties. He is a person who knows what he wants and will do anything to get it.
- Prakash (Vinay Pathak), A person who appears to be street-smart, but is in reality very naive and easy to fool. He is also a compulsive gambler due to which he always ends up losing a lot of money. His other weakness however is his wife whom he loves very much.
- Vikram (Neil Mukesh), A youngster who wants to make quick money rather than actually work for it. A very clever man, he's also very ambitious and has big plans.
- Shiva (Daya Shetty), A strongman whose lack of brains is made up for by his strength. He doesn't understand matters of intellect and prefers to settle matters by brute force.
The 5 are told by Naidu of a heist in Bangalore through which they can make 2.5 crores within 5 days. However during the heist, something goes wrong leading to a series of murders, mishaps and mayhem.
The 1st half of the movie literally moves at a break-neck speed leaving you no time to breathe or even blink your eyes and stops at a cliffhanger at the intermission. However after the intermission, it moves pretty much at a relaxed pace letting the frustration, guilt and fear of the protagonist (Or should i say antagonist!) sink into the audience. From there , the movie just keeps twisting and turning keeping you hooked throughout and finally leads to a twist ending which leaves you gasping for breath and makes you go "Oh my God, I didn't see that one coming!".
Dharmendra is as good as ever and makes full use of his charisma and genuine warmth for people in this movie. Neil Mukesh makes a confident debut and hopefully we should see more of him in the future. Zakir Hussain and Vinay Pathak are simply terrific with excellent performances. The rest of the cast ably supports the story.
The best part about the movie is that it never stops moving. No unnecessary sub-plots or songs to spoil the mood that was built up by the previous scene like in most movies. Sriram Raghavan who made a promising debut with Ek Hasina Thi (A fantastic thriller in its own right) goes a step ahead and makes a faster and grittier thriller. The movie has been shot stylishly and gives Mumbai a dark look given before in movies like Satya etc. The background music is equally racy and doesn't jar on the nerves of the audience.
The songs of the movie provide some of the background music and help the story move forward. Especially the title track which has to be one of the better songs heard by us lately.
Overall the movie has lived up to expectations, Its biggest plus point being the fact that it treats its audience as people with normal intelligence levels and doesn't spoon feed them. Only negative point is the lack of publicity for the movie as compared to crap like Dhamaal or Dhol etc. Anyways i guess, word of mouth publicity should help the movie to a large extent.
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