Cash - Movie Review

Starring Ajay Devgan, Shamita Shetty, Sunil Shetty, Diya Mirza,Zayed Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Esha Deol Directed by Anubhav Sinha Rating: ** Curb your tendency to run the gamut of the pun. Cash is no trash. It's as nonsensically nifty as any of those cool capers from Hollywood like Ocean's Dus, gyarah, barah….whatever! Dus director Anubhav Sinha goes bust….women of every shape and sighs show up on screen to giggle and heave. And take on the boys in the game of acquisition. In one item song which goes Rahem kare, Choreographer Rajiv Goswami makes the Brazillian bombshell point her palm to an unmentionable part of her anatomy. And still, Cash steers as far away from any hint of vulgarity as conceivable. The hot babes with their catch-me-if-can attitude match steps in the strip-and-groove game with the cool dudes in their never-ending collection of designer glasses. Is Cash co-sponsored by Ray-ban? If it is, then this is as close as director Sinha comes to Satyajit Ray in this urbane caper that goes from hot chick to ubane chic at the flick of trendy wrist. Or wait ….is Cash a free-flowing endorsement for sun-tan lotion? As the cast gets sensuously and seductively soaked in the Cape Town sun you look for the South Africa that director Feroz Abbas Khan visits in the other release this Friday on the life of Gandhi and his son. There are no fathers and sons in Cash. But Suniel Shetty (looking extra-dapper and supremely suave in his svelte suits and,yes, cool sunglasses) has an adopted uncle with whom he does dirty deals and finally shoots pointblank. The point, if you must know is…there's no point to this heera-heist. Anubhav Sinha gate-crashes into a zone of singy amorality where boys try to be men and men try to get extra-pally with the women. James Bond meets Brij Sadanah in this coolly contemporized version of Sadanah's Chori Mera Kaam. Diamonds may be forever. Cash makes them dazzle and sparkle for two hours of sinful designer-entertainment. Stylishly mounted and edited to the point of conveying a cutting edge of glistening gaiety to even a casual conversation on the road, Cash provides a crash-course in how to make a celluloid diamond-heist not go to waste. Waist is where the plot gets its wriggle. Shamita Shetty is specially spunky and spicy as she woos the rather oddly made-up Ajay Devgan. Yup, she's the one to watch. Devgan plays a delectably subverted Superman-styled double-life character. For Shamita he's a mellow peace-loving writer. For Diya Mirza (who also has the hots for Suniel Shetty….these gold-digging diamond dames…I tell you!) Devgan is a Santa-Banta reciting entertainer-cum-heist-merchant. After a while it becomes hard to tell who's doing what to whom,and why. Screenwriters Yash-Vinay go back to all the capers from Victoria 203 to Dhoom…and come up with a crime-pays saga that keeps the adrenaline flowing and the cars, motorboats and choppers moving. The dialogues and situations are genuinely funny…specially the exchanges between Devgan and Shetty, and between Zayed Khan and Riteish Deshmukh who play a couple of heist-hawkers who often end up trying to commit the same crime at the same place Zayed and Riteish infuse their ha-ha-ha heroism with a pop-panache. You can't touch these wannabes, really! Not with the aerial and water stunts swarming the dapper frames in motions of curled-up cosmpolitanism. Ironically the most entertaining performance comes from Howard Roseneyer as a nose-in-the-air yatch manager pressurized by the cops to blow Ajay Devgan's lid. There is a genre of cinema that tilts its stylish topi to the art of jalebi storytelling. Wheels wind their way into wheels, and then some more wheels in this pulse-pounding ode to the spirit of audacious derring-do. Don't look for a linear cogent narrative design, as Anubhav Sinha merges crimes and cops, audacious animation and heart-in-the-mouth stunts in a mix that keeps you watching….numb-stop.

Shootout At Lokhandwala - Movie Review

Cast : Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Viveik Oberoi, Tusshar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Rohit Roy, Sammir Dattani, Shabbir Aluwalia, Abhishek Bachchan, Aarti Chhabria, Neha Dhupia, Diya Mirza

Producer : Sanjay Dutt, Sanjay Gupta

Director : Apoorva Lakhia

Music Director: Strings, Euphoria

Rating: **1/2

The early nineties were exciting times to be a part of the underworld if not the Mumbai police! With Maya Dolas and his gang growing at a terrifying pace, it was clear that he would cross paths soon with the biggest 'Bhai' of all who then ruled from Dubai.

The film is a journey which tells how the Anti Terrorist Squad, which was dismantled in 2003, actually came to action. It shows how ACP Khan, played by Sunjay Dutt, selecting right candidates for the squad before he launches his war against crime.

The film is basically a series of flash backs. The opening montage shows the blood drenched scene of the shootout. And then we find three officers – ACP Khan, Kaviraj played by Suniel Shetty and Javed Shaikh played by Arbaaz Khan facing questions from Advocate Dhingra who is enacted by the Amitabh Bachchan. Dhingra shoots accusations and questions the three. Among others, accusations against the ATS are of human rights violations and putting the lives of over 400 people of the area in risk. And the three answer with accounts from history which led to the shootout.

Abhishek Mahtre (Abhishek Bachchan) is an inspector who is shot by Khalistani terrorist who are trying to find a foothold in Mumbai city. Organised crime gets headway and ACP Khan wants secures permission for the new ATS cell – a model influenced by SWAT cell from LA. Meanwhile, Maya Dolas (Vivek Oberoi) along with his partners Bua (Tusshar kapoor), RC (Shabbir Ahluwalia), Fattu (Rohit Roy) and Doubling (Aditya Lakhia) grow up to defy their boss in Dubai. The clashes finally result in the boss lifting his hands off their heads leaving them to fend for themselves. And ACP Khan wastes no time.

But while the film shows the evil side of the underworld what makes it interesting is that each character in the gang is also given human flesh. While Maya has his Aai played by Amrita Singh, Bua wants to have a family with his love interest Tarannum (Aarti Chhabria). Fattu has his god fearing parents and RC is afraid of ghosts of innocent families he has killed. It's not just the gangsters. The police offers have their slice of family trouble as well. ACP Khan and Kaviraj have unhappy wives and Javed wants his son to do better than himself in school so that he grows up not to be a police officer but a respected 'doctor ya engineer' and earn good money.

Shootout at Lokhandwala Wallpaper

The story of the film is done well. And it has been carried out pretty well too. But the shootout scene which is supposed to be the central subject of the film however fails to generate much excitement. The background music as the shootout film reaches climax gives out some emotion and the cinematography is breathtaking at times.

There has been a rising tendency to shows chaos and action through lots of shakes and cuts in films nowadays. And Shootout at Lokhanwala exemplifies this. At times the shakes and cuts end up leaving your head dizzy and create confusion.

The playback music of the film did not have much scope and hence not too impressive except the track by Strings which is played during the end credits.

Shootout at Lokhandwala Wallpaper

Performance wise, the film is quite mediocre. There are so many actors that there is hardly enough time for each to do anything significant. In between all this however I would like to mention Amrita Singh. As the proud mother of Vivek Oberoi she stands, Amrita has done a terrific job. Amitabh Bachchan lends his charm when ever he is on screen. Sanjay Dutt also comes with a good performance, taking into account his troubled times during the shoot. Tusshar Kapoor has improved a lot as an actor. His expressions are good but then his vocal chords just let him down. May be Tusshar should stick to roles like the one in Golmaal where he need not speak! Debutant Shabbir Ahluwalia is also good as a goon. Overall, this is Vivek's film and he is good as a gangster. In him, there is the same spark as in Company.

After a stylish Ek Ajnabee Apoorva Lakhia's third film is a commendable effort. Especially since he handled such a huge star cast and story! Worth a watch not two!

Shootout at Lokhandwala Wallpaper

By the way, there are special thanks to both the Bachchans right in the beginning. Hmm, that's no doubt for waving off their fees.

-Sanskriti Media

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