Musafir

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Star cast:</span> Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Sameera Reddy<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Director:</span> Sanjay Gupta<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Running at :</span>Inox<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Rating: **</span><br /><br />Try and try till you exceed.Sanjay Gupta''s excess mantra: Debauchery,sadism, violence and gore. He lays it on thick. Those watching Musafir should go into the theatres with an important caveat in mind: not for the sensitive or the sensible.<br /><br />Gupta got it partially right when he ripped off Quentin Tarantino''s Reservoir Dogs in Kaante. This time around, he pays homage to Oliver Stone''s skewed U Turn. And has giant- size egg yolk on his face. So let''s get this straight. Just what was the director thinking? That random style equals sense? That we, the paying public, would fall all over the black and white inserts, numerous hand-held shots and hallucinogenic effects that Musafir is replete with?<br /> <br />There is certainly nothing wrong with cogging an idea. Only as long as it is nourished and executed with panache within the Indian context. Gupta wears his western influences on his sleeves. Many viewers will certainly recognize echoes of U-Turn: The similarities are hard to ignore: an unwilling hitman trapped within the confines of a small town playing a pawn in the life-or-death struggles of a helpless woman and a wealthy man. The narrative twists and turns in a serpentine fashion, rarely proceed in a predictable or straightforward manner and disembody the film further.<br /> <br />Instead of being plot conscious, the film is more character conscious. More''s the pity, because the protagonists like Lucky (Anil Kapoor) and Billa (Sanjay Dutt) end up more ham-fisted and less heroic. What are their motivations? Why must we, the audience, get enmeshed in their web of lies and deceit? Is there redemption in a land which has no moral compass for<br />men like Lucky and Billa ? If the screenplay writers wanted to paint a grey and amoral world of men, they are woefully off the mark. <br /><br />In the tradition of all noir films, the root all evil is the fat green carrots in Musafir too. And of course, the ubiquitous femme fatale. Lucky is this petty goon who''s on the run as he has messed with the quasi-godfather Billa. He has to pay back Billa''s money, or else he''s in shit creek. So after a couple of music videos with a deceitful girlfriend (the luscious Koena Mitra, can''t act to save her nail polish), Lucky''s off to Goa. Where he encounters the Jennifer Lopez-Nick Nolte husband and wife couple from U Turn. Here they are Luka (Mahesh Manjrekar) and Sam (Sameera Reddy). An attraction develops sparks off between Lucky and Sam. Needless to add,there will be hell to pay. There''s also a sub-plot concerning Tiger (Aditya Panscholi) and Whacko Jacko (Shakti Kapoor). Heavens!<br /> <br />The non-linear story line, a huge cinematic device successful in the hands of Stone and Tarantino, is out of synch in Gupta''s hands. Thumbs down to dialogue writer Milap Jhaveri for gross chavvani class nuggets like thokna, thukana, marvana and the like. Despite the gimmickry, PS Vinod''s camerawork is stupendous, fusing the narrative with an acid-induced edge making it<br />almost surreal. The cacophonous background score ends up highlighting the anarchy in Gupta''s film-making.<br /> <br />The characters are so unsympathetic that it makes viewing often difficult. Just what were the censors doing while reviewing this film? That 10 minute exposition on rape told from two different points of view makes your stomach churn. Mahesh Manjrekar''s character of Luka is one of the most vulgar and crassiest screen fiends ever. And what''s further disturbing is Manjrekar<br /> inhabits the role and essays it with ease. Aditya Panscholi who was terrific in Gupta''s Aatish is wasted here. Just how could Sameera Reddy allow herself to do this role which is exploitative from the word go? And one is not even talking about the skin show here. Her screen character goes through the worst degradations child abuse to marital rape ever. Sanjay Dut,<br />as a film aficionado, hams right through it all, gleefully playing the baddie to the hilt, one more time. Sorrily, an actor of Anil Kapoor''s calibre is reduced to dipping his hair in peroxide, looking straight out of a tobacco commercial.<br /><br />Never mind the average ages of the leading actors, Musafir could have been one big brat pack picture, one that sums up a swingin'' era with cool-cat lingo, killer threads, and even a song or two. But this travel-ugh loses its way and is mired in a psychedelic haze of skin show, raunchy dissipation and ultimately.nothingness. <br /><br /><a href="http://movies.indiatimes.com/mailro/msid-956966,title-1.cms">CLICK HERE</a> to write your own review</div> </div>