Feb 26, 2008 03:53 PM
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I have loved quite a few movies of Emraan Hashmi-Zeher, Kalyug, Gangster, The Killer and Awarapan. So when I missed The Train in the theatres, I decided to watch it on VCD. But unfortunately, The Train failed to impress me. It has lot of flaws and cons and most importantly, the suspense is predictable!
The story of the movie: Vishal Dixit (Emraan Hashmi) is an Indian middle-class guy, settled in Bankgok. He has a nice job but his personal life is on the rocks. He has problems with his wife Anjali (Sayali Bhagat) and their daughter suffers from juvenile diabetes and both of them are trying to raise money for her kidney transplant. Vishal used to commute everyday by the train and one day, he met Roma (Geeta Basra) in the train. Roma also had marital problems and soon the two became good friends. Later, their affair begins and one night, they check-in a hotel. However, the room is invaded by a theif, Tony (Aseem Merchant) who steals their money and credit cards. To add to it, he rapes Roma and knocks Vishal unconscious. Vishal and Roma try to forget this incident as a bad dream, but unfortunately Tony had got hold of Vishal’s contact details from his credit card. He blackmails Vishal to give him money or else he’ll tell his wife Anjali of his illicit affair. Vishal had no other option but to agree to his option. But the goon kept calling Vishal regularly for ransom. What will Vishal do now-will he keep on entertaining Tony’s demands or will he find a permanent solution to this problem?
The problem with The Train are many. To begin with, while the director duo handled some sequences nicely, they failed in some. Vishal and Anjali’s marital problem was badly shown. Also they failed to do justice to this flawed story. That’s because, somewhere in the second half, you’ll be able to guess the suspense and what’s in store next. And if you can guess the suspense in a suspense flick and that too before it’s revealed, then there cannot be any failure bigger than this!
Also, the main story begins just minutes before the intermission. The 2nd half’s major portion involves Tony blackmailing Vishal and Vishal agreeing to his demands. However, the film has some plusses too. The performances and the music are quite good. Also, the way Vishal and Roma’s relation blossomed was wonderfully shown. The climax, where Vishal sets everything straight, was great. But unfortunately, the minuses outweigh the plusses and inspite of a good ending, the film, overall, disappoints.
The best performer in the movie is not Emraan or Geeta or Sayali but Aseem Merchant! Though his entry is little late, he dominates the 2nd half and gives a master performance. The way he said “Hey buddy” and “Hi buddy” added to the coolness of his character! I’ll definitely like to see him more in movies!
Emraan Hashmi gives a complete natural performance. He performed as per his character demanded and there was no overacting from his side. Debutant Sayali Bhagat was okay and could have given better performance. Newcomers nowadays perform great feats in their first movie itself. Sayali should know this and should work harder for her forthcoming flicks.
Geeta Basra was hot and her performance was great. Suresh Menon’s character Charlie was added to add humour in the movie. But he failed. Instead, Anant Mahadevan provided laughter! Rajesh Khattar was there only in a scene. Rajat Bedi as Asif Ahmed Khan, the cop was wasted and his character was laughable. Nothing was shown about him later. I wonder why his character was added. Others were okay.
Mithoon’s music was great and foot-tapping! Songs were excellent, especially ‘Woh Ajnabi’, ‘Teri Tamanna’. ‘Zindagi Ne Zindagibhar Gham Diye’ was a very nice song but I don’t think it was required in this movie. I mean, this song is a very very sad song and I don’t think Vishal’s life was so sorrowful that he’ll have to sing this song!
Cinematography and action was normal. Sanjay Masoom’s dialogues, in some scenes, were really great. Janak Hriday’s screenplay was effective, but only in some scenes.
Raksha Mistry and Hussain Hyderabadwala’s direction was good but in their previous flick, The Killer, they had done a good job. And both of their movies were ‘inspired’ (read: copied) from a Hollywood movie. While The Killer was taken from Collateral, The Train is taken from Derailed. But the director duo has immense potentiality and could really do a great job, if provided with some good scripts!
Some of the good scenes of the movie:
1. Vishal and Roma’s first meeting
2. The song ‘Woh Ajnabi’
3. The song ‘Teri Tamanna’
4. The intermission point
5. Vishal going to Tony’s hideout
6. Vishal withdrawing 10 lakhs from his bank account
7. The scene where Anant Mahadevan thinks that Vishal is a gay!
8. The climax
On the whole, The Train fails to impress because of its predictability. It has some major flaws, the suspense is predictable and it will waste your precious time. At the box office, it was a flop which it rightfully deserved. Disappointing.
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