Take a little James Hadley Chase. A
pinch of Alistair Mclean. Take a slice
from Papillon. Take a few
chunks off Sin City. Sprinkle a
little Hitchcock. Garnish it with
shredded Tarantino. Shove all of this
in a mud oven, and cook it really
slow. Let it go black; no, really
charred at the corners. Take it out
while its still bubbling, red hot, and
put it on the table. Don’t forget to
put an ample supply of burning coals
under it. And yeah, secure yourself
with a seatbelt. Johnny Gaddar
is served.
Ok, this officially becomes the
second movie after 300, which
delivered what the promos promised.
The promos had been playing again and
again, for over two months now, and I
was really intrigued. So, I went with
a lot of apprehension, almost
expecting a let down, and was
pleasantly shocked. From the first
scene itself, forget the first scene,
from the moment the starting titles
started rolling in, I knew this was
going to be a great movie. Large white
lettering over a really dark
background, with a dash of red works.
It really does.
Vikram
(Neil Mukesh - sharp profile, drooping
eyes, ruffled hair, blonde stubble, a
soft voice, and a very expressionless
expression, he is your regular
cold-blooded killer) is a young boy
with get-quick-rich schemes in his
mind, and works with a gang which
deals in non-violent activities
(smuggling and such.)
This gang is headed by Sheshadri (Dharmendra
– after many years its good to see him
NOT slurring) who listens to his
long-dead wife’s voice-recording every
now and then, had old-school gangster
values, and the other gang members
respect and fear him.
The other gang members include
Shardul (Zakir Hussain - one the best
character actors we have today, VERY
convincing), Prakash (Vinay Pathak,
does not need an introduction), and
Shiva (The mammoth man from C.I.D, I
missed the name, sorry).
Vikram is having a torrid affair
with Shardul’s wife (Rimi Sen, I am
still undecided about her, but she
looks very pretty regardless), and of
course Shardul does not know it.
All is going well in gangland, till
an offer is made to the gang. They are
supposed to provide rupees 2.5 crores
to Kalyan (Govind Namdeo, WOW!), who
in turn will provide them with some
goods (we don’t know what goods),
which our gang is supposed to quickly
sell off, and make a nice profit. In
order to do that, each member must put
in 50 lakhs from their own pocket.
After some minor hiccups, the money is
collected, and the gang is looking
forward to make some easy, quick
money. And this is exactly when a
thought strikes Vikram – what if he
can get away with the entire sum? And
this is where the fun begins.
Obviously, I am not going to give
any details about the plot, since
there is no plot, it is a series of
events, which happen in quick
succession; each even depending on the
last one, in true James Hadley Chase
fashion. So, I implore everyone who is
reading this review to go and watch
the movie quickly, before it is off
the theatres.
I had very high expectations from
director Shreeram Raghavan (who
previously made the excellent Ek
Hasina Thi), and he lived up to
the expectations. The man has a keen
eye for details. And he doesn’t overdo
anything. His characters and
situations in the movie are not loud,
they fit in with the storyline, and
there are no jarring moments. There is
a long sequence shot inside a moving
train, and it is so real, that it
actually takes you there. OK, even if
it was not shot in a real train, they
made a damn realistic set.
There are crowd scenes, and yes,
the people do turn around to look, but
the editing is crisp, and the do not
end up looking at the camera and start
waving and smiling. There are scenes
in nightclubs, but the camera does not
play with bare bellies, midriffs, or
obnoxious looking gentlemen, instead;
it keeps them out of focus, and in the
background where they are supposed to
be.
Neil
Mukesh as the protagonist shines
through and through. He does not need
to emote too much for two reasons: 1)
It is a crime thriller. 2) He has
that kind of face. His really sharp
profile is used brilliantly by the
cameraman – mostly half-lit – and a
sly smile lurking just around the
corner. He does show a lot of
potential, though his voice is
somewhat soft, but that could be the
genes. But yes, if he promises to keep
that stubble on, and not do chocolate
boy roles, he can go a long, long way
– guaranteed!
Dharmendra, as I said before does
not slur through his dialogues.
Mercifully, the director did not
involve him in any fight sequences. He
was just told to stick on the
moustache, and look serene, and bossy
at the same time, and he succeeds.
Yes, I have a problem with him
speaking some English lines, and there
is a good reason for that: he comes
from a solid Jatsikh background, and
he speaks like that, regardless of
what he is saying. So naming him
Sheshadri, and then listen to him
speak in that accent is kind of weird.
But yeah, that’s a minor thing, and
otherwise he is a pleasure to watch as
delivers the old Dharmendra style.
Vinay Pathak is getting better. His
comic timing is perfect, his dialogue
delivery is perfect, and he sticks to
the accent throughout, and makes you
smile whenever he comes on screen. He
plays a gambling-den owner, and acts
like a true lowlife with class. He is
perfectly complimented by his wife,
played by Ashwini Kalsekar (she of the
large eyes, numerous TV serials) as
the owner of a small-time beauty
parlor, a devoted but nagging wife.
The
chemistry between them is real, and
unmistakable.
Zakir Hussain is fast becoming one
of my favorite actors. Throw any role
at him, and he makes it come alive. He
plays this sleazy club owner, who
auditions girls in the afternoon,
ogles at them openly, even makes crude
comments about women, but is otherwise
faithful to his wife who hates his
guts. His lecherous look is not
overdone, his clothes are just right,
and his mannerisms (rise of an
absolute lowlife to a rich lowlife)
are perfect.
Govind Namdeo surprised me after a
long time. The last time he did this
was when he played a Muslim leader in
Satta. He as the corrupt and an
extremely violent, but principled cop
from Bangalore is perfectly chosen.
And he gets everything right. The
slight but not missable southie
accent, the bushy moustache, the
perfect hairstyle, and the swagger in
his walk which comes after years of
being an overtly cautious cop (only
duty, no beauty) is a study in how a
mean, calculating, corrupt cop should
be played.
Rimi
Sen has nothing much to do in the
movie other than look extremely hot,
teary eyed, and scared, since it is a
male-oriented movie. But she does it
well anyway. I feel bad for her
because she is not untalented, but
hasn’t got enough chances to prove
herself, except coming in half-baked
comedies and look glamorous.
Overall, what catches the eye in
Johnny Gaddar is the attention to
detail. There are a lot of indoor
scenes in the movie, and the director
obviously visited such places and
maybe even photographed them for
reference. For example, Vinay Pathak’s
seedy den is littered with cheap
furniture (no the
usual collapsible kind mind you, but
REAL furniture). The patrons in the
den are busy gambling, and the camera
does not linger on any one of them.
His office has this big, tacky
mandir with gaudy lights, and
every god and goddess in place. There
is no carpet inside, and his table is
a mess, littered with decks of playing
cards, newspapers, and bill books. The
walls are chipped, and almost sagging
from years of moisture. Very, very
real.
So no, this movie is not Satya.
If I am allowed to say it, it is
better than Satya in many ways.
Yes. They are two very different
movies, but the only
difference here is that none of the
characters are glamorized, they have
very specific for-the-moment lives.
Money is the central character here,
and
everyone is after it. There are no
shenanigans about honor and such, only
the pure and naked lust for money.
There is a love angle too, but it is
only secondary. Yes, it is a
gangster-type movie, but it is not
about gangs and how they go about
their details, since there is no need
for it, and the director knows it too.
No, this does not claim to be an
overtly intelligent movie, the
director made sure of it. The script
is coherent, and easy to understand,
and there are no
subplots - only sudden unexpected
events, which change the course of the
story as it progresses, like a snake
moving on a rocky path (though I can’t
explain why a snake would do a stupid
thing like that, but that’s what came
to my mind).
Johnny Gaddar is not a
brilliant movie. It’s an AWESOME
movie! Do go watch it before it goes
off the theatres, since we all know
what happens to awesome movies (Manorama
Six feet Under, Blue Umbrella)
in this country. As for me, I am going
to watch it again, AND buy the DVD
when it comes out. This is is
definitely for keeps.
