STARRING

Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma and others.

DIRECTION

Vijay Krishna Acharya

STORY

The story revolves around four main characters of Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan), Akshay Kumar (Bachchan Pande), Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor) and Pooja Singh (Kareena Kapoor). While Jimmy is an employee with a call center for the last two years, Bachchan Pande earns his livelihood by acting as a local toughie who specializes in recovering dues for the people. Bachchan Pande does not think twice before breaking bones. Bhaiyyaji is a gang lord who loves to shoot people and speak in his own peculiar English.

Jimmy and Pooja steal a huge amount of money from Bhaiyyaji and run away. But Bhaiyyaji got a wind of it and he appoints Bachchan Pande to track down Jimmy and Pooja. Bachchan Pande follows the duo throughout the length and breadth of the country. In the meantime, Pooja comes to know that Bachchan Pande was her childhood love and she falls for him, leaving Jimmy in the lurch. What happens after that is revealed in the climax of the film.

PERFORMANCE

Saif Ali Khan continues with his superlative performance after Race. Saif excels in the character of a call centre employee Jimmy who teaches English to cute girls in his spare time and comes to improve the elocution of Bhaiyyaji. His romance with Kareena looks convincing and the two look ideal pair. Akshay Kumar in the character of Bachchan does the breathtaking stunt sequences and provides the movie with much needed edge of the seat excitement.

 Kareena Kapoor looks sizzling hot and sensuous in the film. Her chemistry with Saif Ali Khan is superb. This ‘an evil little doll of Jimmy’ oozes oomph in the film with every twist and turn but somehow gives the feeling of copying Rani Mukerji in Bunty Aur Bubbly. Anil Kapoor in the character of Bhaiyaaji looks natural and carries himself with élan.

The direction of Vijay Krishna Acharaya is at best average. The film lacks the direction. The best stunt sequences and other act from the best four actors fail to move the storyline. In fact, the director seems to have lost the grip somewhere in the middle. He seems to have focused more on the costly sets, daredevil stunts and expensive costumes than a coherent film as a whole.

The music by Vishal-Shekhar is fairly good and ‘Chaliya’ number has already become popular. Vaibhavi Merchant’s choreography is of top order but will not be able to recreate the magic of ‘kajrare’ number. Other production values are grand keeping with the tradition of Yashraj Films.

STARDUST VERDICT

 The film is an action packed stylized product from Yashraj with hot couple Saif and Kareena providing the oomph factor while action specialist Akshay Kumar providing the stunts. The film is high on style, star value, but lacks substance and direction. It is certainly not in the league of Hrithik’s Dhoom from Yashraj. An average fare at the box office.