Jul 24, 2009 03:35 PM
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Luck! Don’t we depend on it in many instances of our life? Don’t we believe that few people are lucky and want to see them as the first person in the New Year Morning? Betting, gambling, speculating, lottery, good omen…what is your way of banking on the goddess of Luck??
What if somebody start trading on other people’s luck in a dangerous reality game show? Huge money is the attraction. Life is the price. However, after the initial stage, the game barge into dangerous waters and a journey with no return is started.
The Gambler King Kareem Musa (Sanjay Dutt) believes his luck to no end. He has his reason to believe that. Now Musa is all confident of his luck, he is looking for many such people who are extremely lucky. He want to take the gambling to a new level, skipping the cricket betting, stock markets etc. He runs a reality game syndicate in Cape Town. Tamang (Danny Denzongpa) is the right hand of Musa who searches for the lucky and purchase on behalf. Around 15 lucky people from across the world will be bought into the gambling place in South Africa and people will be betting on the chance of survival of each participant. In the new round, there is Ram Mehra (Imran Khan) whose father committed suicide after involving in a stock scam and needs huge money to settle the debts. Rtd. Col. Veer Prathap Singh (Mithun Chakraborthy), who need money urgently to save his wife’s life. Shortcut (Chitrashi Rawat), who was sold by her family in Pakistan for Rs. 15,000/- and was engaged in camel racing. Serial Killer Raghav (Ravi Kissen) was sentenced to death, but he survived by luck and was released (!!!). Ayesha (Shruthi Kamal Hassan) who was a survivor in the last year’s game and now with a mission.
The first half was concentrating on the character introduction, but interesting. The second half started a bit slow, but sooner it raced in pace and we can see all eyes glued to the screen and many of them literally sitting on the edge of their seats. (For this reason, people who have back aches may skip the movie.)
The plot was interesting. The dialogues were superb. (People who hate to hear ‘citeee’ may skip the movie where the dialogues are suppose to bring more of them). The characterization and screen play were however weak. The writers failed to create compelling situations. Soham Shah, the director did a good job in filming the scenes with technical brilliance and keeping the thrill. However, Soham Shah the writer needs improvement. The film had great scope for betterment which the writer/director failed to realize or utilize.
Sanjay Duttwas very good in a role he is very familiar. He is the same Sanju Dada. Imran Khan did a good job, but knowing his potential I have expected much more from him. He very much underplayed the role in the first half and the script didn’t support him for a grand come back which was required in such instances. Shruthi Kamal Hassan’s role was limited to the second half and she will now have an average to good debut. She was good in her looks, but the dialogue delivery was pretty disappointing. Mithun Chakraborthy did his role neatly. Danny was the scene stealer in the film, though he was sidelined in the second half. Chitrashi Rawat simply carried herself as Komal Choutala and this young girl is the delight of the film. Ravi Kissen impresses us very much, not before the script writer letting him down in the climax.
Some interesting scenes: Sanjay Dutt crossing the metro blindfolded (Wow!!)…The cigarette lighter scenes (Lol!!!) The shark attack on Shortcut and the hospital scenes (Touching)…Ram saves Ayesha on the parachute game (suspense)….Raghav trying to cheer up the night after the first game (Brilliant).
Oops!: How come the bank in which Ram works ignores a looting of ATM even when they know all details? Luck – will it repeat endlessly? The South African hospitals and police don’t enquire about the accidents, despite they go there with the number tags from the gambling spot. There are many and many…
Cinematography of the film is a mixed bag. Excellent in many of those action scenes where was giving a ‘pale’ effect in some parts of the film. Good to very good. The movie didn’t have much scope for songs and the ones in the film doesn’t impress. Choreography was average to good. Editing is very good.
Despite its drawbacks in many accounts, the movie succeeds in one important aspect, i.e. entertaining the audience. It may not be appreciated if you take the film in part by part, but it is very good as a single product. It is a film which was successful in passing the thrill to audience. Once the game started, it was like we are watching a close finish cricket match. Another major plus for the film is its star value. It has many of the known faces and the law of time, i.e. it will fly fast when known faces are around will help the film a lot.
The film is a good thriller.
My rating: 3.5 stars
