Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna and Salman Khan
Rating: Two and a half ( **1/2)
Advice: Akshaye Khanna saves the film from being banal and keeps you tickled through the film. Watch it for him and some good naach gaana.
Farah Khan’s film after Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om raised great expectations but sadly she falls short by miles. She repeats her old tricks too soon, too often this time. She appears to be shortchanged on gimmicks as well. Shirish Kunder’s story is wafer thin and pretty much juvenile.
Tabrez Khan (Akshay Kumar) is a born crook – he had flicked the doctor’s watch and the nurse’s necklace at birth in the maternity ward. Hardly surprising that he grows up into a con artist who calls himself Tees Maar Khan. He is boastful of his prowess of lock picking; he claims that he can break any lock. So when he’s caught in Paris and is being flown back hand-cuffed, he cooks up a plan by which the pilots get locked out of the cockpit and none other than TMK can avert the imminent crash. He is set free by the passengers in lieu of lock picking. And he is at large yet again. Back in Mumbai he first drops by at his girl friend Anya’s (Katrina)film sets where she’s dancing to the item song ’Sheila ki jawaani…’
He wrests her out of the shoot and brings her home. Just then he’s summoned by the infamous conjoined twins Jhaver brothers. The police have confiscated a huge consignment of valuable antiques to the twins and all of it is being transferred to the national treasury on a train. The twins commission TMK to recover it for them. TMK with his three side kicks hits upon a plan of shooting a fake film near the rail tracks, getting the actors in the role of revolutionaries to loot the train with the treasure and then transfer it to the twins.
In order to make his plan completely fool proof he gets superstar Aatish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) to play the lead in the film. Aatish Kapoor has missed out on Slumdog Millionaire because his slimy, supercilious secretary (Sudhir Pandey) has dismissed Danny’s call thinking it were from Danny Denzongpa. Mr Denzongpa must object to this infamy like Manoj Kumar did last time. It’s time Farah khan stopped poking fun at film veterans.
So the point is, Aatish is now lusting after an Oscar and when TMK approaches him as Manoj Day Ramalan from Hollywood – so Aatish bites the bait most eagerly. Now Aatish flies in a helicopter into the remote village of Dhulia through which the rail tracks run and so it is the most convenient place for TMK to stop and loot the train. For this he casts the entire village and pulls off the heist. He’s dully apprehended by the cops but he manages to release his fake film which wins Aatish the coveted Oscar and transforms Dhulia into a tourist spot.
So really, the script is non-existent as is the direction. TMK as the director confesses to be clueless as to what’s coming next, that seems to be reflective of Farah’s own situation in the film. She just let’s the story run amok. This headless tale is rescued totally by Akshaye Khanna’s invigorating performance as Oscar crazy super star. He’s so well into his character that he just breathes life into the drab script. In this supposed comedy, Khanna is the only one who unleashes laughs all through. Likewise, Salman’s guest romp in the Wallah wallah number charges up the film for a while. As far as performances go – Akshay Kumar is over the top – screaming, gesticulating and overacting, Katrina Kaif’s anglicized accent is a deterrent to her character which is of a struggling item gal. But then she’s saved this time as her role is cleverly restricted to belly dancing and gyrating. Katrina’s belly dancing has certainly improved and she’s getting good at it. Apara Mehta as TMK’s carefee ammi is delightful. Sudhir Pandey shines in his part as the skeptical star secretary. All the villagers are endearing and well in their characters. Kudos to Sachin Khedekar for pulling off the comical Police Commissioner with dignity. A big pat on the back to music composers Vishal Shekhar and choreographers Farah and Geeta Kapoor for all the glitz, the naach gaana brings to the film. Shirish Kunder’s background music is also catchy and blends in well with the proceedings. Also Kunder’s edit weaves in this chaotic narrative into a decipherable whole. But no denying that the film slackens intermittently and Akshay Kumar’s garish gear does nothing to enhance his appeal. He’s trying too hard to be cool in the film but he’s getting nowhere close to it.
Also this time, Farah’s trademark rolling titles including the entire crew doesn’t quite touch the core. Somewhere her craft is deteriorating. And the fact remains that sans Shah Rukh Khan, her spell doesn’t quite work.
