Kaanta Lagaa. Review on Kaante

63 members have already reviewed this movie, including “Suyog–The Ripper” (no double meaning, but do read his version). I’ve unwittingly committed myself to writing this review and Karan refuses to take away the bazooka pointed at my head till I do it. So here goes…

“Inspiration” is a strange word. In Bollywood, it connotes the mystic ability of Musicians, Directors, Script Writers and their entire clan of professionally related kith and kin to come up with outputs lifted from elsewhere. The shrewd Indian moviegoer has been obdurately rejecting movies of all kinds and this prompted Sanjay Gupta to look westward for some desperate dose of Inspiration.

Like the now-infamous “Daisy Cutter” that unerringly meets its target, he’s done his homework in style and homed in on Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” (inspired from “The Usual Suspects” and “City on Fire”). That Sanjay Gupta ripped out the whole movie “in toto” along with the characters, their mannerisms and dialogues is a blatant lie! All said and done, it does take some amount of skill and talent even to copy a Hollywood movie and adapt it to the tastes of the highly discretionary Indian audience.

A thorn is a thorn is a thorn…unless proved otherwise

Cut to the opening shot where the 6 main characters - Major (AB), Ajju (Sanjay Dutt), Bali (Mahesh Manjrekar), Andy (Kumar Gaurav), Marc (Sunil Shetty) and Mak (Lucky Ali) are rounded up by the LAPD and pounded into a cell on suspicions of having stolen a truck laden with computers. These Indianised versions (2.x) of the “dirty half a dozen” are supposedly the worst scum on the streets of Los Angeles. Robbery, cheating, drug peddling, hacking, murder and all other synonyms are their middle names. In a world where friends turn foes in the twinkling of an eye, these six scoundrels swear to take revenge on the LAPD for their repeated humiliation by looting the bank that services it’s salaries.

Thorny Issues

Going by internationally accepted cinematic norms, we are shown brief flashbacks for each character and told about their motives (or the lack of it) for agreeing to be a part of the heist. In an otherwise well made movie, what follow next are some pretty unimaginable scenes which I’m sure even a duffer with an IQ of 0 wouldn’t have thought of.

The “super six” fire gunshots and blow explosives atop the “Rossylyn Hotel” in broad daylight, clearly unaware that they are bang in the middle of the city. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that their planning is meticulous. If anything, it’s highly patchy and less than amateurish. No one bothers to study the layout of the bank or its security. Heist movie fans will be shocked out of their seats on seeing the super six wandering into the bank and casually asking the Bank manager to shut off the alarms. Sanjay Gupta would have done better in these scenes had he sought some inspiration from “Ocean’s 11” and “Aankhen”.

Only a thorn can remove another thorn

The robbery doesn’t take long and the six are ambushed by the LA cops as they begin trooping out of the bank with their loot. The action sequences that follow are like animation shots lifted from a hi-tech video game. Around a 100 LAPD officers shoot at the fugitives from behind the safe cover of their cars. This is where Bollywood takes over. Cover or no cover, even a thousand bullets cannot harm our super heroes toughened on “Maa ka doodh”. Lest it sound too good to be true, Mak (the most dispensable of the lot) gets hit and our men get away from the scene of the shootout to a pre-planned, deserted warehouse.

The second half of the movie is quite gripping as they try to figure out who among them is the traitor and tipped off the police. The scenes involving Bali, Mak and the captured “trophy” from LAPD are shot very well. The script writers do a fine job of delving into the psyche of each character and try to bring out the human side of them in trying to protect whom they think is innocent. The subsequent polarization which results in their breaking up into groups of two each and their understanding of each other’s personal problems is handled very sensibly and sensitively. Also noteworthy is the Mexican standoff that takes place towards the end…

The making of the thorn

The performances of the lead actors are perfect with almost all of them getting an equal footage right through the movie. Special mention must be made of Mahesh Manjrekar and Sanjay Dutt for their riveting show, aided to a large extent by dialogues that promise to bring the house down at times. Be it in belting out innocuous jokes or donning deadpan expressions, these two are just too good and add that extra something to make it worth watching the movie a second time.

I was stupefied with the kind of technical gloss that this movie exudes. Shot entirely in LA with a pre-dominantly foreign crew, the brilliant technical aspects set a new standard for Bollywood movies to follow. The Cinematography (Kurt Brabbee) is awesome. I loved the way different coloured frames are used for at different parts of the movie with a pre-dominant onus on the sepia tint. The camera angles are very innovative, especially the use of close-ups on the characters and the long aerial shots at the time of the robbery.

Kudos also to the editor (Bunty Nagi) for doing an excellent job. Though the movie could have been better off with a little more of generous snipping, he does a great job in handling the transitions between one scene and another. The extensive use of the “camera shutter” shot coupled with “fading” effects keep the movie moving at a fast pace.

The music has been scored by about half a dozen directors but thankfully there are only about 3-4 songs inserted in the movie. Rather than acting as a deterrent, they provide some relief from the tense happenings on the screen, especially the sensuous “Mahi Ve” by Malaika Arora Khan and the raunchy “Ishq Samandar” by Isha Koppikar.

Thus Spake TiC

The movie kept me absorbed right from the first reel to the last without letting up on pace anywhere. The movie might be copied lock, stock and barrel but that doesn’t take away any of its merits. It had a novel storyline (for the Indian public) and contained all other ingredients that made it a treat to watch. Yes, there were a few invariable blemishes involving the pre-robbery planning and the robbery itself but otherwise, the screenplay was taut and the direction, good.

“Kaante” is a step in the right direction for Bollywood (not in terms of copying but for trying to tackle a different genre). Its success proves that the avid Indian moviegoer is game for watching stuff apart from lovey-dovey romances and elaborate family marriage affairs that resemble prolonged toothpaste ads with over a dozen songs.

If only our directors would interpret “Inspiration” correctly and churn out something more original…