FAREB is not just a love triangle, revolving around a man torn between love and lust but also a murder mystery. And the women in this story go to extremes to get the man they desire.
Not that FAREB is path-breaking cinema. In fact, FAREB is too ordinary a fare as far as the script is concerned, but it's Tijori's execution that holds your interest at several points in the film.
. Aditya Manoj Bajpai works as a creative director in an advertising agency. His wife Neha Shilpa Shetty, a medical practitioner, is devoted to her husband and kid.
Riya Shamita Shetty was married to a corporate honcho Bakul Thakker, who happened to be a client of Aditya's ad-agency. Riya and Aditya meet at a presentation and she gets attracted to him. Riya is completely smitten by Aditya and tries to seduce him time and again. He spurns her initially, but succumbs to her charms eventually. This leads to a rift between Aditya and Neha.
And then the unthinkable happens: Riya is murdered. The needle of suspicion points towards Aditya and being the prime suspect, the cops Kelly Dorji, Hemant Pande arrest him. Someone is also watching Aditya and blackmailing him for his affair with Riya. Who killed Riya?
FAREB isn't an original subject. A theme like this has been witnessed with regularity in Bollywood. A dash of AITRAAZ, a bit of ZEHER and a tinge of BEZUBAAN mix them, shake them and FAREB is ready to be served.
From the writing point of view, screenplay writers Brijesh Jayarajan and Girish Dhamija open the cards at the very outset. A happily-married couple, a young entrepreneur who has just lost her husband, the woman seducing the man she wants to possess, the blackmailer, the rift between husband-wife... So much is packed in the first hour. While Tijori handles the plot convincingly, the pace slows down time and again in this half. The slow pacing can still be overlooked thanks to the twists and turns in the story, which genuinely keep you involved. The intermission point, when Manoj and Shamita have an ugly confrontation, only raises the expectations from the second half.
But problems seep in during the post-interval portions
The story becomes one of those routine murder-mysteries in this half. From the motive and identity of the blackmailer to the actual culprit in the finale, the sequence of events that lead to the climax are plain mediocre. The identity of the killer does come as a surprise, but not as a jolt. That nail-biting finish is clearly lacking here!
Writers Brijesh Jayarajan and Girish Dhamija could've thought of a far more imaginative and innovative way to take the story to the finale. Anu Malik's music is in sync with the film and thankfully, the songs don't pop up every fifteen minutes. Manoj Bajpai handles his role with amazing ease. Shilpa Shetty maintains the studied silence part with grace and maturity. Shamita Shetty is getting better with every film. Kelly Dorji is expressionless. Milind Gunaji and Parmeet Sethi are okay.
Rating:- * *.
