The trailer didn’t create any excitement and Arjun Kapoor yet again looked like not interested in his job in the few sequences shown in its promos. So the only appealing elements related with the film were its genre of a real life inspired crime thriller and the competent director Raj Kumar Gupta, the man behind films such as AAMIR, NO ONE KILLED JESSICA and RAID.
However this time the end result is just better than the writer-director's worst film GHANCHAKKAR, wherein neither the basic potential premise offers any engrossing content nor the execution gives you anything worth praising in its only two hours of duration. In fact when even two hours seem to be too long watching a crime thriller revolving around trained officers chasing the most wanted terrorist travelling to the neighbouring country, then the writing really has to be pretty bad, as witnessed in this energy less venture poorly directed by Gupta.
To be fair, though it strongly reminds you of the second half of Neeraj Pandey’s BABY, the real life inspired basic plot still had some potential, which eventually gets wasted because of a lackluster screenplay, a too simple execution and plain passable performances from the cast. In an attempt to make a realistic thriller without any typical Hindi film insertions, the director turns it into a docu-drama kind of film with abruptly inserted original pictures of various bomb-blasts in the country and a completely lifeless representation of the secret operation lacking the basic elements essential in this particular genre.
For instance, right after the opening sequence, you neither feel moved, emotionally connected or excited in any manner throughout the film as everything keeps happening at its own convenient pace without any hurdles as such. So there is no edge of the seat moment in this so called thriller and all its chase sequences actually fall flat despite having a heist kind of settings with the team travelling to Nepal for nabbing their target.
Apart from its forgettable music and overuse of aerial shots, the unrequired variety used in its background music does appeal at times but largely remains unable to add anything significant to the overall dull narration without any pace or enthusiasm. To be honest it seems as if the film was made in a hurry or with everyone in a super lazy mode not giving any attention to the major departments including the writing, direction and performances.
Arjun Kapoor underplays the lead role with an annoying monotonous tone with no variations at all and his team members are just there with nothing much to do. On the other hand Rajesh Sharma leaves an impact playing the supportive officer, but the biggest drawback remains the feeble portrayal of the main villain, who fails to portray terror of any kind on the screen and then gets easily caught in the climax without any thrill or fiery action. Moreover here too the presentation of a muslim terrorist remains the same with the typical beard and dialogues mentioning Jannat after death.
In all, there is nothing to praise in this halfhearted attempt wasting a fine plot, but it still enlightens you with a fact related with Shah Rukh Khan and the repeated troubles faced by the icon at International airports in the last decade or so. Will not reveal it here as many would still like to see the film, but that’s the only worth mentioning merit of INDIA’S MOST WANTED as I strongly feel. May be the film could have been entirely different if this was somehow roped in as an important part of the script instead of being mentioned in the end credits. Also this is yet another project in which you see much more creativity and innovation visible in its publicity posters designs than the actual film.
Rating : 1.5 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 for enlightening us about the reason behind Shah Rukh Khan being interrogated by the American authorities)
Tags :
INDIA’S MOST WANTED Review By Bobby Sing at bobbytalksicinema.com, New Hindi Films Reviews by Bobby Sing, New Bollywood Movies Reviews by Bobby Sing, Real Life Inspired Hindi Films, Hindi Films based on real life terrorists
