Karnataka   

Race away to instant gratification

Race (Hindi)

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif

Director: Abbas-Mustan

Hindi cinema is getting daringly young. And the youngsters will have no reason to complain with Abbas-Mustan’s latest film: there are three girls, each one more inviting than the other. Only a couple of notches above being bimbos, they are like sweets in a confectionary shop. Each more tempting, each more sinful. There is Bipasha Basu brimming over with sensuality. Playing the love interest — well, love if you can substitute lust for it — of Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna, she gets to occupy more screen space, and proves that the spark of “Jism” has turned into a flame, bright and hot. She wears so little. But with each passing frame, she manages to prove that it was actually too much! Katrina Kaif, who can barely say a dialogue in Hindi, still manages to get the pulse racing with her interesting mix of innocence and oomph. She has a girl’s face to go with a woman’s body. Again, as one of the girls in the life of the two heroes, she shows no acting skills to detract from her well-proportioned body. The directors don’t expect her to ever be a contender for the best actress awards. So, they let her body do the acting, her clothes all the appealing.

Then there is Sameera Reddy, been there, done that. And keen to do it once more! She has a cameo, a take on the good old Kitty of the famous Karamchand serial. That comedy is not quite her forte she manages to prove in the micro seconds she gets to show off her wares! She does not get many lines of dialogues but in fleeting seconds, manages to show the right layering in this age of feel good, watch beautiful cinema.

Together, the girls raise “Race” to an instant gratification exercise, a film high on speed, thrills and glamour. A film oozing with sensuality; a film driven by libidinal and kinetic energy. In many ways, it is a typical example of modern-day cinema: the guys race cars and show off their bronzed bodies. The girls hold on to their arms and come into their own in the swimming pool, on the dance floor of a bar and the like. The lyrics don’t challenge the grey cells, the pace of the films does not allow one to think too much either.

The music is ear-catching, the cinematography eye-catching. All together, they provide you a film that is good to enjoy when you are inside the theatre but give you very little to take home or to prompt a repeat visit. That is okay, but what is the film all about? Set in picturesque South Africa, it is a typical Abbas-Mustan film. Here Saif and Akshaye are brothers, each after an obscene sum of insurance money their father had invested! For either to get the money, one has to die. Simple?

Well, knowing the director duo, nothing comes simple or predictable. So, here too, there are quite a few twists and turns. Or as some would say, too many twists and turns. For instance, one moment Bipasha is supposed to be a good girl loved by Saif. In the next moment, she turns out to be a practitioner with easy virtue.

One moment she is Akshaye’s wife who must help him kill his brother. But there is one character who never allows the concentration levels to go down. Anil Kapoor as an investigating agent, a la Pankaj Kapur of the Karamchand serial, gets the best one-liners as he digs into fruits, and tries to find the culprit for the death of one brother. Of course, he is not above board himself.

And considering he is said to be single after 40, and has Sameera for a secretary, the dialogue writer has a field day with innuendoes. Kapoor knows what he is doing, and does a good job of the street-smart agent with the accompanying lingo.

Saif and Akshaye sail through their parts. They are good without trying to step beyond the expected. And the girls?

They know that the easiest way to a man’s heart is no longer through his stomach. So, they concentrate on the right areas with the desired results.

ZIYA US SALAM

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