Gunaah Hindi Movie
Starring Bipasha Basu, Dino Morea, Irfan Khan, Ashutosh Rana; directed by Amol Shetge.
Gunaah, which hit the screens on Friday, is a bit of a damp squib. Don't expect another Raaz or any such razzmatazz in this feeble attempt to blend a thriller into a social comment.
Neither a well-mounted thriller nor able to come to grips with the sub-linear texts that float randomly in the narration, the film is a shock, especially as it comes from the stables of the Bhatts - who have a reputation for delivering modestly budgeted slick flicks like Zakhm, Kasoor and Raaz.
Gunaah fails at all accounts despite bringing back this year's hit pair Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea along with the Bhatts - who also produced their hit film Raaz.
It is evident that debutant director Amol Shetge has tried to make a "different" film. Unfortunately, he ends up making an indifferent one that collapses under a heap of outrageous plotting devices and tacky production values.
From the opening scenes when corrupt cop Pandey (Irfan Khan) slashes and hurls a prostitute from a speeding car, Gunaah attempts to create sense of foreboding.
Instead, the seemingly sinister atmosphere -- ably captured by cinematographer Ishwar Bidri -- only highlights the scarcity of vision in the storytelling.
Shetge's basic premise of a troubled cop Prabha (Bipasha Basu) battling male chauvinism in the office, inner demons at home and her growing attraction to a man Aditya (Dino Morea) accused of killing a doctor has potential.
But he ruins his thriller by imposing cumbersome ideas like that of a youth who drifts away from establishment to an equally treacherous ideology.
As Prabha continues her unwonted "investigation" -- which includes taking the seething accused to a deserted house and groping with him in the dark --one gets to know Aditya's idealistic father had been brutally murdered by Prabha's colleague Pandey.
The film restricts the supposedly macrocosmic struggle into an intimate telefilm format.
Making matters worse is the film's guttural language that pepper the film track.
Also disgusting are encounters like the one where Pandey forces a man to urinate on his murder victim - Aditya's father.
In one of the film's unintentionally comic sequences, Prabha tries to scare Aditya during interrogation by saying: "Hardened criminals pee in their pants when I get to work on them."
Bipasha looks as menacing as a rat threatening a cat while spewing such lines.
The model-turned-actress who has tasted success so far is completely miscast in this film and seems unable to comprehend how to approach her role.
This isn't the first time a non-actress has been thrown into a complex situation in a film by the Bhatts.
But director Vikram Bhatt had somehow succeeded in extracting a credible performance from Lisa Ray in Kasoor and Bipasha in Raaz.
Left to Shetge, Bipasha appears bereft of any emotions including passion when she's required to neck with her co-star in dark places.
Perhaps a more competent central performance could have lifted this listless film out of its drudgery. To compound her limitations as an actress, Bipasha's voice is dubbed by an alien voice. So the audience feels further alienated.
Irfan Khan as Pandey plays the villain's role with wolfish delight. Here's an actor waiting for the right roles. As soon as mainstream cinema stops busying itself with Dino Moreas, it can turn its attentions to such neglected actors.
Dino Morea as Aditya comes off better than his author-backed co-star Bipasha.
For 75 per cent of the story, he isn't allowed to speak -- an obvious symbol of social protest echoing Om Puri's role of the silent accused in Govind Nihalani's Aakrosh.
When Dino finally opens his mouth, it's to speak in director Vikram Bhatt's easily detectable baritone. The director had earlier dubbed for Aftab Shivdasani in Kasoor and Dino in Raaz.
Maybe the Bhatts consider Vikram a lucky mas
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