Good,but no cigar !!. Review on Kaante

First of all, I am very thankful to the people who were responsible for making of Kaante for elevating the standard of Indian cinema. They have collectively set the bar for the entire indian film industry. And this perhaps is the biggest contribution of ''Kaante''.

The movie is a visual treat with slick action, engaging dialogues and spirited performances by some of the actors. The fact that movie is plagiarized version of ''Reservoir Dogs'' threw in the monkey wrench for me. I have seen ''Reservoir Dogs'' and it was not really fun to watch a movie when you can anticipate what is going to happen. For people who haven't seen the original will certainly be more appreciative of the movie than I was.

Of all the performers, Mr.Manjerakar, easily stands out. Sanjay Dutt fits the role like a glove. Sometimes I feel he is not acting but actually he is ''Ajju'' the character he potrays. Not sure, its because of his histrionic abilities or natural tendencies. Amitab, I feel, is wasted in the movie. I feel his heart was not in while acting for this movie. Suneil Shetty and Kumar Gaurav are quite impressive. However, Lucky Ali looks stuffy and uncomfortable acting. I am great fan of his music though.

Speaking of music, the Kaante soundtrack is brilliant. The songs ''Rama Re'' is very appealing and keeps playing in your head for a while post-movie.

Once again, I appreciate the efforts of the director (Sanjay Gupta) and rest of the production crew to shun mediocrity which seems to be standard fare lately in Bollywood. The final product is well-polished and quite impressive. The way ''Sholay'' was a landmark movie in the history of bollywood, ''Kaante'' comes very close, but, unfortunately no cigar (or beedi, for that matter ;-))