Movie Review : Players
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| | Players
Artists (Cast) : Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sikander Kher, Omi Vaidya, Johny Lever, Aftab Shivdasani, Vinod Khanna, Vyacheslav Razbegaev
Producer : Abbas Burmawalla, Mustan Burmawalla
Director : Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla, Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla
Production Company(S) : Burmawala Bros., Studio 18
Music Director : Pritam Chakraborty
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Friday, January 06, 2012 2:29:43 PM (IST)
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Anaam, Bollywood Trade Editorial
It has everything in it – suspense, action, romance, emotion, drama, car chase, item numbers, a main hero, a part timer, a heroine finally willing to showcase her vital body parts with her dad’s due approval, a gora-chitta villain, a dusky vamp-cum-supporting actress, a sacrifice, a social message, plenty of skin-show, two jokers, varied locations from Russia to Goa, and Auckland and Amsterdam, songs, dances, gunfights, and comedic gags. This film even has a story baked in ‘badale ki aag’ and the screenplay itself provides elaborate logic for whatever is going on. What more do you want?
Abbas Mustan duo try to do a Man Mohan Desai to THE ITALIAN JOB and, as anticipated by the cognoscenti, screw it up in every possible way to add what they think are essential Bollywood touches. One will be curious to know about the fate of this film at the weekend box office. Honestly speaking the film is nowhere near the top of the five stupidest films of the recent past. BODYGUARD still rules the roost and there are other stronger contenders.
Why did the duo take the trouble of acquiring the rights of the original if they had to turn it into an unrecognisable pot-pourri of this kind? I am flummoxed and appalled at the reprehensible waste of precious foreign exchange. Why should we be financing the Hollywood juggernaut while inviting FDI in retail?
The film is about Charlie Mascarenhas (Abhishek Bachchan) an ace thief who aims for the biggest heist of his career prompted by a message from his friend Aftab Sivdasani who is murdered brutally by the Russian mafia. Bachchan Junior is advised and aided by his mentor Vinod Khanna to assemble a team to do the job. The team is assembled that consists of Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Omi Vidya, and Sikandar Kher. Oh, yes, Sonam Kapoor plays the feisty and sizzling daughter of Vinod Khanna, the avenging belle who would pump the bullets from an antique revolver into the back of the ever-smirking gora-chitta villain in the climax scene.
The mission is accomplished like a hot knife cutting through a half kg slab of Amul butter. A historical cache of Romanian gold worth 10,000 crores, being returned to its rightful owners by the Russian government, is looted from a running train in 3 minutes flat (Actual time according to the script). It’s an incredible feat that beats the original idea hollow. And then comes the twist in the so far straight tail that keeps getting twisted till the film reaches its denouement leaving us with the stark realization that we mistook the film to be a thriller. It was actually a David Dhavan comedy made by the men in pure white.
There are many unfathomable questions that haunt you after the film is over. For instance, how can tonnes of gold be melted and moulded into cars in a few hours? Let your mind rest in peace. Nothing is impossible in a Bollywood film. After all Man Mohan Desai saab, the greatest master of magic unrealism, ruled this land once upon a time. His legacy is intact and flourishing. In fact the fatal flaw of the film is that it tries to ride the boat of reason and unreason at the same time. The great Manji was very clear about it. He kept the reason aside and let his imagination do the job of making the impossible possible like a true master.
In certain respects the action and suspense moments in the film are more enjoyable than DON 2. The twists in the tale work all right here and there. The problem is with laidback performances. The actors lack conviction. Neil Nitin Mukesh stands out in the over-all mediocre display of histrionics. He tries all the tricks in the trade to look menacing and succeeds partially. Sonam uses it as an opportunity to unveil the hidden facets of her personality. It looks like the duo was briefed to explore and discover her hot quotient. Do they succeed? They might have but their attempts were a bit too obvious and blatant. It was like they were trying to boil her into a hotty. Alas, yet again Bachchan Junior remains an unexplored territory. Omi Vaidya plays an idiot one more time. Bobby Deol and Sikandar Kher are there for the sake of being there. Bipasha Basu could have been used better. Johnny Lever is all right.
The photography of the film is good in patches. The same is true for the other technical parameters like editing, sound, and production design. The ‘Ho Gayi Tun…’ song works for me because it has interesting words in it.
The film deserves two stars for all those twists and turns in the tale.
Rating - 2/5
Tags : Players Movie Review, Players Movie, Players Review, Abbas-Mustan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bobby Deol, Omi Vaidya, Sikander Kher
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