Tashan
|
 |
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan,
Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor
Director : Vijay Krishna Acharya
Three reasons why ‘Tashan’ overcomes your urge to walk
out of the theatre – 1) Akshay Kumar. 2) Funny dialogues.
3) Vishal Shekhar’s music. Mostly set in the dusty towns
of India, ‘Tashan’ tells the story of four people, none
of who trusts the other. Bhaiyaji (Anil Kapoor) has
graduated from being a local goon in the badlands of
UP to a suited-booted don running a thriving extortion
racket. But he hasn’t been able to graduate from his
desi, rustic lingo. He wants to learn English and speak
it like George W Bush does. Make no mistake, Bhaiyyaji
will have his own “axis of evil” to battle.
The first pivot in this axis is Pooja Singh (Kareena
Kapoor) who works for Bhaiyyaji but has other plans
cooking up in her devious mind. She helps Bhaiyyaji
find an English tutor whom she enamors and convinces
to swindle a huge amount of money from Bhaiyyaji.
The English tutor, Jimmy Cliff (Saif Ali Khan), falls
for Pooja’s charm while teaching Bhaiyyaji. To help
her, he robs Bhaiyyaji and finds himself facing the
barrel of Bhaiyyaji’s gun after Pooja runs away with
all the loot.
Enter Bachchan Pande (Akshay Kumar), a countryside
goon, expert at stealing electricity and recovering
stolen or missing goods. He idolizes Bhaiyaaji and immediately
takes the mission to find Pooja and bring all the loot
back. So Bachchan Pande and Jimmy Cliff hit the road
to find Pooja. Find her they do. But the only problem
is that Pooja has divided the money and hidden it in
different parts of the country. Phew! The remaining
song and dance is about how they retrieve the money.
In doing so they discover that their lives are strangely
linked.
‘Tashan’ is undoubtedly high on style and attitude.
The clothes, the makeover, the oomph quotient – and
not to forget Miss Kapoor’s teeny-weeny bikini – they
all gel together to make the movie eye-candy. The dialogues
are full of funny lines lifted straight from the streets.
But they do not form the part of a gripping, moving,
progressing plot because there is none to speak of in
the first place. The whole hoopla called ‘Tashan’ is
about a long road trip and senseless action scenes.
Imagine Bachchan Pande single-handedly taking on scores
of black-cat commandos or decimating dozens of don’s
men.
Akshay Kumar, however, turns out to be the saviour
of ‘Tashan’. With one hand scratching his crotch and
the other on the trigger of a gun, the actor delights
you with his superb sense for comedy. Keeping an innocently
straight face, Akshay delivers some ‘killer’ one-liners
with such flair that he leaves you in splits. ‘The’
Anil Kapoor comes second in winning you over. His twisted
English and his rustic manners stand in sharp contrast
to his attire, and Anil portrays well the humour and
the dread of his don. Kareena Kapoor – may God bless
her body – is alright in capturing the nuances of her
character that bluffs without as much as a wink. She
looks a clever fox to a ‘T’. And in the name of action,
all she does is brandish shotguns that she seldom fires.
Saif Ali Khan is okay playing a Casanova but his character
seems an appendage to the plot after a while. It is
hard to figure out why Jimmy lugs around Bachchan and
Pooja when he is no longer needed for the progression
of the story. Pooja knows where the loot is hidden.
Bachchan is there to recover it. But what is Jimmy doing?
Flaunting his own tashan?
A few words need to be said about director Vijay Krishna
Acharya (aka Victor) who has written Dhoom and Dhoom
2 for Yashraj Films . No doubt, Victor has got punchiest
of dialogues in right places. 
But he has an utterly flimsy story to begin with. And
Victor doesn’t have a unique style of directing. The
cinematography by Anayanka Bose is a visual treat, and
music by Vishal-Shekhar is superb.A few words need to
be said about director Vijay Krishna Acharya (aka Victor)
who has written Dhoom and Dhoom 2 for Yashraj Films
. No doubt, Victor has got punchiest of dialogues in
right places. But he has an utterly flimsy story to
begin with. And Victor doesn’t have a unique style of
directing. The cinematography by Anayanka Bose is a
visual treat, and music by Vishal-Shekhar is superb.
'Tashan' released on April 25th, 2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 'U Me Aur Hum'
After Aamir Khan, another star actor Ajay Devgan turns director.Like Aamir, Ajay too has handled 3 roles -that of producer, director and an actor. Besides being his directorial debut, U Me aur Hum is Devgan's first out and out romantic movie too. Kajol, Ajay's wife, plays the female lead in the movie..........more
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 'One Two Three'
The movie’s plot is pregnant with possibilities of truly humourous situations. But the script-writer and director have not been able to turn the possibilities into reality. Reason? The immature and imbecilic gags fail to rise to the requirement of the comic situations in the movie. Barring a few funny scenes,........more
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 'RACE'
Subtlety and restraint have never found a place in the movies of director duo Abbas-Mastan. Their latest thriller ‘Race’ is so much crammed with unexpected twists and turns that after a while you naturally begin to expect the unexpected from the film. And that is the trap that any suspense thriller can........more
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 'Jodhaa Akbar'
Set in the sixteenth centuary, this epic romance begins as a marriage of alliance between two cultures and religions, for political gain, with King Bharmal of Amer giving his daughter's hand to Emperor Akbar. When Akbar accepts the marriage proposal, little does he know that his efforts to strengthen his relations with the Rajputs,.......more
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 'Superstar'- Could have been better'
The strength of 'Superstar' lies in its story, which has a strong element of irony. However, the film's main weakness is a lack of consistent build-up in the plot, particularly in the second half. The movie has Kunal Khemu in double roles. Kunal (Kunal Khemu) is a struggling actor who,.......more
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
