Crush the roses, forget the poetries, turn away from those candy
flosses and gear up for the genuine suspense thriller offered after really really
long time. The last worth watching was (Ek
Haseena
Thi) from the very same director Sriram Raghavan. SR’s first movie
did not fare well at the box office but it is doing well in the DVD
circuit. His second movie *Johnny Gaddar *is
much better in all aspects to the EHT.
Anyways EHT is all past. Now all
eyes, ears, and and every possible sensing organ on JG. The movie starts with a
dedication to Chetan Anand and James Hadley Chase (numerous suspense thrillers
to their credit). And soon we are introduced to the five main characters: The
Boss Sheshadri (Dharmendra),Shiva (Daya), Prakash (Vinay Pathak), Shardul (Zakir
Hussein), and Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh) complimented with Inspector Kalyan
(Govind Namdeo), Prakash’s wife Varsha (Ashwini Kalsekar), Vikram’s love flame
Mini (Rimi Sen) who is also wife of Shardul.
So we have bunch of gamblers who
got a big deal worth 2.5 Cr. And Shiva is chosen one to go to Bangalore
with money via train. Our picture perfect cutie Vikram (a.k.a Vicky) does Amitabh
of Parwanaand with a perfect
planning gets into the same train. But alas, things get dirty and Shiva is
killed accidentally. Vicky takes away all the money. The boss calls upon him
and confides in him that he suspects Shardul and Prakash. Trying to be Smartass Vicky is caught and
confesses to his deed but not before he takes the ghastly step and eliminates
the Boss as well. Not accident this time. And thus starts his CYA (Cover Your
A** for the beginners) strategies.
The script is remarkably written.
Not a surprise as when Jaideep Sahni writes everyone notices. In my review of Chak DeI had mentioned his earlier
works: include Company, Jungle, and
Khosla Ka Ghosla(all commendable) and now with JG he adds another
feather in his fully feathered cap.
SR moves a step further. He shows
lot of maturity. His debut EHTwas considerably
good though amidst lots of flaws, technically. Not that JG is without one. There
are few minor ones but the guy seem to have grown a bit. Kudos to him.
The movie is dark in few places
and the screenplay (as already mentioned) is the high
point. Another high point
is the choice of using songs just as snippets in the background instead of full
fledged deliverance which would have killed the pace of the movie. The low
point would be some regular flaws which can be given a miss.
Now the most crucial aspect which
matters for any film. The performances. You have a damn nice script; your director
is top class. If you do not have any to showcase it, all goes down the drains. It
has happened many times. Not entering that territory at all, let me slice up
each character.
This is Dharmendra’s third movie
this year (after Metro and Apne). We are
seeing more of him these days which is undoubtedly good. Vinay Pathak for a
change goes a non-comic role and is as good as his comic ones. Daya Shetty (for
beginners, he is known face on TV) doesn’t have many scenes. Poor guy gets
killed sooner. Zakir Hussain is the one who steals the show with his perfect
timing. The guy is amazing. He will soon join the elite list of performers (Irrfan,
Kay Kay, Ranvir Sheorey, Rajat Kapoor et al) is all I would say about him. **Rimi,
Ashwini and Govind **are added flavors and they all put up decent show.
Neil Nitin Mukesh is a
distractingly handsome guy. And what you say for guys like him. The HUNK. He has
got his father’s features (thankfully not the tummy which Nitin Mukesh used to
flaunt at his concerts). He is better than good for the debut movie. In his
confrontation scene with Dharmendra, they guy has done tremendous job. First he
stands up to the stalwart and second he puts up such a straight face, any would
believe he can not be the murderer. His soap-cleaned looks and balanced acting
would get him many offers. All he needs now is a lesson on diction and it won’t
be long before we see him flying high.
Here I would like to mention one
thing that if he goes onto choose his movies well and delivers top notch performances,
trust me he would be the first one to give a tough competition to Hrithik. I say
first cuz I believe since 2000 (the debut year of Hrithik), not a single actor
worth his skill, looks, style or any damn thing which classifies you as
superstar has even come closer to Hrithik. No Abhishek, No Shahid, No Anyone. Neil
is the guy to watch out for. (Ranbir Kapoor not included yet). When Saawariya
hits, I will decide where to put him. As
of now, JG rules.
