The formula of the Bhatts in the recent past has been simple. Pick up a burning issue, sketch a story and some characters around it, have a few peppy numbers and voila! The film is ready. After, KALYUG (Porn industry) JANNAT (Match fixing), TUM MILE (Mumbai 26/11 floods) they've come up with CROOK: IT'S GOOD TO BE BAD, based on the racial attacks on Indians in Australia.
Director Mohit Suri takes up the current topic of racism but treats it so nonchalantly that it's more ludicrous than credible. He just touches upon the topic of racial discrimination on the outer surface without considering the sensitivity of the issue. The film ends up being just another revenge story.
Jai Dixit (Emraan Hashmi), who's into film piracy, leaves India and hopes to start afresh with the new identity of Suraj Bhardwaj in Melbourne, Australia. It's love at first sight for him at the airport when he meets Suhani (Neha Sharma). She's an RJ who attempts to abridge the gap between the Indian and Australian cultures. Suraj takes up taxi driver's job in the cab rental agency of Suhani's brother Samarth (Arjan Bajwa).
Samarth has his issues with the Australians and blames them for his younger sister's (Smilie Suri) death. Few days after Suraj's arrival, racial attacks break out and he finds himself in a tough spot.
Emraan Hashmi has been a favourite of Mohit Suri (ZEHER, KALYUG, WOH LAMHE, AWARAPAN, RAAZ- THE MYSTERY CONTINUES). They hold a good success ratio. However, this time the duo fails to deliver. Ankur Tiwari's script is inconsistent with a dragging first half. Pritam's music is good with Mere Bina being the best.
The brewing romance between Suraj and Suhani is too stretched and lacks freshness. Few twists in the second half are noteworthy. But that's just about it. Its convenient climax is far from convincing and is unintentionally funny.
Emraan Hashmi is decent. But haven't we seen him in umpteen similar roles in the past? (JANNAT, AWARAPAN). We would love to see him in more versatile roles like the recent ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI. Debutante Neha Sharma looks good but needs to polish her acting skills. Arjan Bajwa is impressive. Gulshan Grover and Kavin Dave are wasted.
CROOK: IT'S GOOD TO BE BAD is no good.
Rating: 1.5/5