NAQAAB was a heavily anticipated movie of the year as with all Abbas-Mustaan movies. The movie re-united the HUMRAAZ team yet again for what promised to be “the most shocking thriller of the year”. Stunning promos, catchy tunes, unique premise and the promise of a twisty-turny thriller is what I expected from NAQAAB. So is the movie up to expectations? Sadly not, despite some good moments the movie fails to hit the mark.
Abbas-Mustaan have always specialised in remakes, right from their debut KHILADI which was a remake of KHEL KHEL MEIN, BAAZIGAR which took it’s inspiration from A KISS BEFORE DYING, DARAAR from the infamous SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY, right up to their last few releases like AJNABEE(CONSENTING ADULTS) and HUMRAAZ(A PERFECT MURDER). Their latest is a remake of the Spain Hit DOT THE I, but from what I hear this is a far inferior version of the original. The story starts out slow only to pick up pace but by that time it’s too late, the further twists that ensue end up undoing the thriller even more. The screenplay is inconsistent. The movie starts out slow, only to pick up pace a little to late. The culmination of events from the point Bobby Deol reveals himself and the scenes that follow are spellbinding as the story takes a completely different graph. The scenes that follow don’t hold out too well simply because the “twists” and “turns” are all too familiar and executed in a less than exciting manner. The twist in the end in the climax just doesn’t work in the hands of a thoroughly “massy” director like Abbas-Mustaan.
Abbas-Mustaan films have always been about “planning, from KHILADI where Ananth Mahadevan plans his murders, BAAZIGAR where Shahrukh Khan plans to execute his enemies one by one or even ultimately AJNABEE where they display the message rather clearly with Akshay Kumar’s password in the film being “PLANNING IS EVERYTHING”, and NAQAAB too is about planning, though NAQAAB isn’t anywhere near those films, the movie is what I call an ambitious failure, An idea with a lot of potential conducted in a somewhat less than exciting manner. Abbas-Mustaan are probably more comfortable with what they’re doing in MR. FRAUD(Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan) and RACE(Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Fardeen Khan) as this movie is somewhat misplaced with them.
Performances in the movie are definetly what make the movie work to some extent.
Bobby Deol gives an inconsistent yet surprising performance here. The first half he is wooden as ever, and sadly that’s the fault of the director who over-do their part to show Bobby as the “nice” guy which instantly gives the game away. When Bobby Deol reveals his true colours there’s a jhatka, and Bobby makes the most of the scenes that follow. He oozes confidence and stands his own against Akshaye Khanna, even if it is for a moment.
Akshaye Khanna is as powerful as ever making the most of every moment he’s got. I’ve always maintained Akshaye is one of the most honest actors of this decade, though his choice of films has a lot to be desired for (I haven’t yet seen GANDHI MY FATHER). He’s clearly comfortable here in a part that gives him ample scope to perform and he’s natural to the core as always.
Urvashi Sharma who makes her debut with the movie is seriously stunning, and turns in a surprisingly confident debut performance. I easily rank her as a better actress then say Celina Jaitley or Riya Sen, and I hear she has an 8 film contract with TIPS!
The supporting cast is a complete letdown. Vikas Kalantri and Vishal Malhotra ham to the hilt and completely overact. Raj Zutsi isn’t given any scope. Ganesh Yadav is effective as always. Archana Puran Singh has a small stint playing herself.
Pritam’s music is good, only in parts here, though thankfully in the 2 hour duration there aren’t many songs as the movie relies more on Salim-Sulaiman’s fabulous background score. EK DIN TERI RAAHON MEIN is melodious and comes at the right moment. Hussain Burmawala’s editing is a letdown.
Like I said earlier, NAQAAB is an ambitious failure that tries hard (and full credit for that) though fails, despite a strong turn of performances from its principal cast. So is this the end of Abbas-Mustaan? No, I can see them hitting back with RACE.
A.Shah
Final Rating: * * ¾
