{"id":693,"date":"2008-03-21T23:13:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-21T23:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2008\/03\/review-race-2.html"},"modified":"2011-06-13T02:21:16","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T02:21:16","slug":"review-race-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2008\/03\/review-race-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Review : Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rating<\/strong><\/a> : Poor (2.2\/5)
Genre : Thriller\/Suspense
Year : 2008
Running time : 2 hours 34 minutes
Director : Abbas, Mastan
Cast : Saif ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Sameera Reddy
<\/strong>Kid rating<\/strong><\/a> : PG13<\/p>\n

<\/strong>RACE : THIS RACE AIN\u2019T GOING NOWHERE !<\/strong><\/a>
<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve watched Abbas-Mustan\u2019s previous directorial ventures, you know that they aren\u2019t exactly the pride and joy of Bollywood as far as direction goes. So I didn\u2019t rush to the theater with great expectations, and I must say that the film turned out pretty much as I thought it would. Thus it had zero character development, almost no logic, desultory conversation and some very unfunny lines passed of as humor.<\/p>\n

The way this film has been hyped, it looked like Dhoom3 and then some. Yes, it\u2019s got quite a few car chases, hip-swinging songs, bomb blasts, but it doesn\u2019t quite get there. It\u2019s actually better than Dhoom2<\/a> story-wise, and by that I mean that it HAS a story, as compared to D2\u2019s almost non-existent one. However the story is ultra-complicated, lots of twists and turns, lot\u2019s of two-faced characters, betrayals and turn-coats. You can\u2019t tell a friend from a foe, which you\u2019d think would herald a good thriller, but Abbas-Mastan\u2019s inept handling makes short shrift of that notion.<\/p>\n

The whole deal is the story of two brothers, the elder Ranveer (Saif) doting on the younger Rajiv (Akshaye). However two-faced Rajiv has a massive chip on his shoulder \u2013 Papa never liked him as much, and hence he hates Ranveer\u2019s guts, but will not say so. Instead he plots secretly to bring about Ranveer\u2019s death and get his grubby hands on his $100 million insurance policy. Assisting him in this quest is model Sonia (Bipasha) who\u2019s risen from an orphanage, to dreams of big money. Both Ranveer and Rajiv are sweet on Sonia. In love with Ranveer is his secretary Sophia (Katrina), but he has eyes only for Sonia. Thrown into this mix are another pair \u2013 Inspector RD (Robert D\u2019Souza) and his dumb secretary Mini (Sameera), doing the Karamchand-Kitty<\/a> act.<\/p>\n

So, essentially there are 5 main characters; the 6th \u2013 Sameera\u2019s in inconsequential, and extremely annoying. All the 6 characters are paper-thin, not a shred of believability is left after Abbas-Mastan are done with their work. I consider Saif, Akshaye and Anil reasonably able actors, but given their haphazardly put together roles and their inane dialogues, it\u2019s not surprising that they perform well under par. Akshaye is the best (and that\u2019s a relative term) of the lot, but then Akshaye always does petulance well.<\/p>\n

The women are perpetually made-up, wear skimpy clothing, and bland smiles. Katrina is quite the sexy secretary, with no life of her own; be it an after work party at the club, or her boss arriving at the airport, she\u2019s always there. Bipasha as the glamorous Sonia comes across as highly sexed up; she\u2019s always wearing heavy makeup, dressed up for meals like she was lunching with the Queen, and essentially just oozing oomph, be it night or day. Sameera Reddy who\u2019s not as physically fit as the other two ladies plays dumb (and she can speak all right). Accompanying her Inspector boss to take notes, she scribbles busily on her pad, attired in backless mini-dresses, with midriff baring necklines. Apparently Abbas-Mastan have hit upon the magic formula for filmi success \u2013 thrills, chills and the female body in very little clothing; story, screenplay and sense be damned.<\/p>\n

Neither Katrina or Bipasha, as gorgeous as they are, can act to save their lives. Katrina actually appears to believe that smiling IS acting, which is probably why she does it a lot. Smiling that is. Bipasha is a known quantity, and uses her handy one-glassy-expression-for-all-emotions technique. Sameera who can act, is given the weak role that requires none.<\/p>\n

The characters such as they are, lead fairly absurd, one-dimensional lives. They appear to have a few traits we know about, and the audience is expected to subsist on this diet of very hard-to-believe, hollowed out, slapdash set of characters. Screenplay is extremely poor, and direction while average needs to push the pace a little. It ain\u2019t no thriller if it takes forever.<\/p>\n

The film starts off in South Africa, at the Durban Cup, where horse stud farm owner Ranveer is losing his races, and his money. We are treated to a brief intro to the characters of the film via a voice-over by Anil Kapoor (he as Inspector RD actually comes in only post-intermission), and his narration goes on for quite a while. Now whenever a director has to employ a narrator to actually tell us about the characters and their traits, instead of showing us by letting them speak and emote, it\u2019s a sign that he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing. Very true in this case, because Abbas-Mastan haven\u2019t a clue.<\/p>\n

The first half of the film is actually B-O-R-I-N-G. The characters appeared silly, shallow and mentally challenged. The dialogues were incredibly inane, and cheesy. Besides the nice cars, and nicer women there wasn\u2019t much going on here. The interval came on a promising note, with the arrival of Inspector RD and assistant Mini, and you think Anil Kapoor\u2019s going to rev things up ! But, no, Inspector RD appears to be an ape in human clothing, chomping on fruits, and lusting for Mini. Mini, of course is lacking in the brain department, and thus she becomes the butt of many not-so-funny jokes. If Sameera Reddy attempting to display an emotion were not enough for you, there\u2019s Johnny Lever. Lever appears to be in full form, rolling his eyes, and comparing women to cell-phones. Oh joy !<\/p>\n

The film has very good music, set to entirely inappropriate and weirdly placed songs. Lush dance numbers, complete with gyrating extras, spring up at the drop of a hat. Sophia and Ranveer go on a business trip, and manage to squeeze out a song while there. Ranveer tells Sophia that she\u2019s a good friend, when she\u2019s fishing for a compliment, and she breaks out into song asking him to \u201cKiss me, kiss me, kiss me\u201d.<\/p>\n

One does not speak of Abbas-Mastan and quality in the same breath, but one must note that the story has huge, gaping holes. I do not talk of ordinary holes, as in the mortal film-viewer\u2019s wonderment at getting from Point A to Point Z, without traversing through Points B through Y; I talk of gaping holes into which a continent the size of Asia could submerge and disappear wholly from view. And then there are the smaller mishaps \u2013 like Ranveer talking of Dispirin to cure hang-overs, and call me picky, but why in South Africa are they using Dispirin, and not a local brand of medicine ? But then this is Bollywood folks \u2013 we are good on locales, and poor on details.<\/p>\n

This was not an entirely un-redeemable plot. In the hands of a more able director, with enough emphasis on quality, characterization, and details this could have been a good film. Saddled with Abbas-Mastan\u2019s myopia and desire to churn out a worthy successor to Dhoom2<\/a>, this film fails massively. If you liked Dhoom2, you\u2019ll probably find “Race”<\/a> an adequate entertainer. However, if like me, you thought that D2 was the pits, best keep away from this disaster.<\/p>\n

Technorati tag : Review Race<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rating : Poor (2.2\/5)Genre : Thriller\/SuspenseYear : 2008Running time : 2 hours 34 minutesDirector : Abbas, MastanCast : Saif ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Sameera ReddyKid rating : PG13 RACE : THIS RACE AIN\u2019T GOING … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,76,28,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-62","category-bollywood","category-rating-pg13","category-thriller"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":8,"uagb_excerpt":"Rating : Poor (2.2\/5)Genre : Thriller\/SuspenseYear : 2008Running time : 2 hours 34 minutesDirector : Abbas, MastanCast : Saif ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Sameera ReddyKid rating : PG13 RACE : THIS RACE AIN\u2019T GOING … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-bb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1825,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions\/1825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}