AKSAR....A DISASTER. Review on Aksar

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Udita Goswami, Dino Moreo

Director: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan

Cinematography: K. Raj Kumar

Music: Himesh Reshammiya 

Screenplay:Sujit Sen

BY JUBBI FRANCIS

Words-652

Aksar is the latest offering from director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, better known for damp squibs Dil Vil Pyar Vyar and Dil Maange More, where he tries his hand at a Hitchcockian style of mystery film-making, but fails miserably once again.

Mix Hollywood flicks Unfaithful and Indecent Proposal, add a plop of Bollywood masala and that is the plot of Aksar. If its some consolation the film does show the experimentative side of Bollywood by deviating from the much-told ''unfaithful husband'' tale. Here the wife is shown blatantly cheating on the husband right in front of his eyes. Ample display of skin and sleaze are thrown in to sustain viewer interest.

Ricky (Emraan Hashmi) is a leading fashion photographer and absolute womaniser. He gets a call from Sheena Roy (Udita Goswami) asking him to meet her. Once there both have a showdown because Ricky dumped Sheena’s friend Nisha (Tara Sharma).

Three years later, Ricky conducts an exhibition of his photographs to raise money to avoid a mortgage. Enters suave millionaire Rajveer Singh (Dino Moreo) who buys his pictures even before the start of the exhibition but on the condition that Ricky will trap his wife into falling in love with him. A perplexed Ricky is told that the affair with the millionaire's wife is necessary to facilitate a smooth divorce from her.

Ricky flies to London to start his cat-n-mouse game with Sheena. Initially she responds with hatred, but gradually this gives way to love and the two have a torrid affair till the husband catches the two red-handed. But Sheena refuses to divorce him, arguing that if Raj can have extramartial affairs, so can she.

Raj’s plans thus go up in smoke and he asks Ricky to leave, but Ricky is unwilling to give up the easy life of luxury with a beautiful woman at his beck and call. Double-crossing…Bollywood style you know.

The film's plot unfolds too slowly. It gains momentum only after Ricky comes to London and Sheena refuses to grant Raj a divorce. But after this the director seems to be in a hurry to wind up the movie. So he has Ricky murdered and the cops arrest Raj but release him when they find a tape showing Sheena murdering Ricky in fit of jealousy.

The cinematography is good with K. Raj Kumar doing complete justice to his work. London with its exotic locales and grand mansions creates the right ambience for the movie. Of the songs 'Jhalak Dikhlaja' and 'Lagi Lagi Lagi' are picturised well.

The ultimate trump card for the movie is indeed Himesh Reshammiya's music. The songs 'Jhalak Dikhlaja' and 'Lagi Lagi Lagi' are chartbusters already. The placement of 'Mohabbat Ki Guzarish' in the end sorely tries the viewer’s patience. But the movie has more lows than ups.

The entire film rests on the three main actors — Emraan Hashmi, Udita Goswami and Dino Moreo. Emraan is efficient but repetitive. Well, the ''kiss specialist'' has lived up to his reputation. But he needs to work harder on his dialogue delivery. Udita Goswami, does fairly well, but needs to do something about her looks. For a top model her blotchy skin could prove to be her undoing. May be the director has overlooked this aspect. The saving grace of this movie is Dino Moreo. He has a come a long way from his ‘Musu musu hati’ and 'Raaz' days. But at the same time he flounders with the dialogue delivery and at times still looks wooden. Tara Sharma and Suresh Menon are simply wasted.

With only Himesh Reshammiya’s as its saving grace and a hackneyed script. The film is headed to be a big box-office letdown. In short this is movie one can easily afford to miss.