After a month’s lull at the box office, all the movie buffs were geared up for something which would make the wait worth its while. Does Game deliver? Well, let see…
The Plot:
Billionaire Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) invites four individuals from various parts of the world (incidentally, they are all Indians) to his island Samos in Greece. He knows that each of them had, in some way, influenced his illegitimate daughter Maya’s death. So in a bid to find out the culprit, Malhotra prepares personalized invitations for each of them, offering to take them out of the tight situations each of them have landed themselves into. Thus, politician cum human trafficker, OP Ramsay (Boman Irani), casino owner cum drug lord, Neil Menon (Abhishek Bacchan), actor Vikram Kapoor (Jimmy Sheirgill) and journalist Tisha Khanna (Shahana Goswami), land up on Malhotra’s turf. That Kabir Mallhotra dies before actually accomplishing anything is another matter. The alleged suicide of Kabir Malhotra calls into action Dectective Sia Agnihotri, who suspects it to be a murder case. The subplots begin to develop showing how each of them had played a part in Maya’s life. Neil was romantically involved with Maya and after Malhotra’s death, Neil takes up the responsibility of finding the person responsible for Maya’s death. That, in short is the crux of the story.
The Cast:
Abhishek has the meatiest role and though he gives us nothing to complain about, he does not cover any new ground either. Playing subtle characters is his forte and he accomplishes the urbane and slick drug lord’s role well. Sarah Jane Dias who plays Maya looks exotic and stylish. She has few dialogues to deliver and provides enough eye candy – probably precisely why she is there in the movie. Kangana has improved on her dialogue delivery but the role gives her nothing at all to showcase and after the immensely elating Tanu weds Manu, Ranaut disappoints in the lackluster role. Anupam Kher is his usual self and with little screen space and few emotions to display, his role remains the average stuff. Boman Irani hams through most of the later half of his role and Shahana Goswami’s role is almost non-existant. Alas, once again the brilliant actor in Jimmy Sheirgill remains underutilized…repeating the story of at least half a dozen movies.
The movie is supposed to be an action/thriller/suspense but the first half drags on leaving practically no thrill in the minds of the audience. The narrative is broken by the song sequences. At times, the dialogues are so cheesy that you wonder whether they are actually written by Farhan Akhtar. The songs’ lyrics are also average fare and we’d have expected a lot better from Javed Akhtar. The writing by Althea Delmas Kaushal is tortuous and long winded at places. Director Abhinay Deo has been an ad-man for so long that he has the cinematography and styling all worked out. While Karthik Vijay’s cinematography stands out, the screenplay drags. The highlight of the movie is the immensely styled, sleek look of the movie. The songs’ are immensely watchable and the general “look” of the whole movie gives you the confidence that Indian movies are now styled at par with their International counterparts.
Verdict:
Though Abhinay Deo shows immense promise, his debut as a director does not score well. The promos had built up a strong buzz but the movie fails to live up to it. My advice: Watch it if you have nothing better to do.
