Jul 20, 2005 08:02 AM
3653 Views
(Updated Jul 20, 2005 09:08 AM)
The story is simple enough, Lucky, a teenage schoolgirl in Russia, lands up in the back of car of the dashing Aditya, who is the affluent son of an Indian diplomat, whilst hiding from a thug who is chasing her. When the thug comes looking for her, he does not find her, but quickly forgets her when he finds a cool car he can steal(Lucky is hiding in the back, she picked the lock with her hairpin) our hero appears and chases the thug away(after giving him a beating that is). Lucky, for some unknown reason, remains hidden in the car as Aditya drives off into nowhere and eventually stops at a checkpoint, where the officer discloses her.
Suddenly, a group of hidden terrorists attack the checkpoint and full scale war erupts, for a moment there is absolute mayhem drowned out by rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire, multiple explosions from grenade and bazooka attacks, and even armoured tanks appearing and running over and crushing everything!
Aditya, takes Lucky and flees into a secluded forest where they stay the night parked up in a graveyard. They now learn from the radio that a civil war has broken out and all phone lines are dead. What ensues is how this unexpected couple survive and find their way back home amidst the war-torn lands.
How Lucky just happens to stay in the back of Aditya's car, even after he chases the thug away, highlights what is essentially wrong with this film; it just happens. These plot conveniences happen throughout the movie. If Aditya and Lucky are caught up in a hopeless situation, and you're thinking how are they going to get out of this and are excited about what happens next - all of a sudden someones pops up out of nowhere and gets them out of it and you feel cheated. That is really a shame, because if the writers weren't so lazy and unimaginative, this could have been an excellent film, that would have made India proud.
Everything is in place for this film to have succeeded, good direction, good actors(except for the girl who plays Lucky, Sneha) extraordinary cinematography. Unfortunately, the writers let everyone down, especially with the climax which makes one cringe.
The songs serve as nothing more than promotionals and it seems like the director makes a conscious effort to set up the lighting and frame Sneha Ullal so she looks more like Aishwariya from Devdas and Hum Dil De Chucke Sanam. They do nothing for the movie other than malign it. Sneha, the aishwariya look-alike is not a patch on Aishwariya in terms of acting, or even on some of the worst actresses in the industry. She has one expression on her face throughout the movie and has a very wimpy voice. It is doubtful that she will appear in films again. However, her performance is not so jarring, considering her character is suppose to be a zombie anyway.
Even though my review is not exactly glowing, I don't think this film is that bad. The director duo are worth the watch, as there is some untapped talent there. It would be interesting to see how they do in their next film. The cinematography and action are incredible and It really brought it home to me just how much Bollywood has come off age technically. It can compete with most movies made in Hollywood. This could have been a very good world-class film, if it concentrated more on developing the characters Aditya and Lucky and their relationship and made them more active, rather than passive.
Watch it for what it could have been.
