EMI: Liya Hai To Chukana Padega

If a particular idea gets accepted by the viewers then its usual that every film-maker just wants to cash it on in Bollywood. The trend of taking 5-6 stories together and making a film is again followed in this movie with an interesting angle of EMI, the term familiar with every common person. But the good plot gets ruined by unimpressive writing and weak execution.

The movie starts promisingly but is not able to keep the promise in the later reels. The stories of all the characters taking loans for different reasons are similar to real life instances. But they fail to generate interest and the viewer cannot relate to them as his own story which is the greatest drawback.

Another flaw in the script is the late entry of Sanjay Dutt as the loan recovery agent. His presence brings some moments to enjoy but as he moves on to the lines of "Lage Raho Munnabhai" and decides to help all the loan takers, from that moment the film starts dropping and drags. Sanju Da should now avoid taking up assignments showing him as a Bhai with a heart of gold, as he has overplayed it many times. Still he tries his best to give his all to the movie but his sincere attempt goes in waste.

All the characters in the movie have nothing extraordinary to discuss upon. Aashish Chowdhary, Neha Uberoi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda are just OK in their roles. Arjun Rampal again gives a feeble performance after his last few good movies. But its strange why Urmila & Maliaka Arora did these mini roles, may be only for friendship sake. They both look gorgeous and alarming hot but don't have enough meaty roles to deliver a performance.

The first half of the movie still has its moments but the second half just goes the other way round when everyone is having a heart transformation and all goes on predictably. The love angle between Sanju and Urmila, going into unwanted lengths also should have been avoided. Only the idea of Sanju liking the girl and girl taking advantage of it was enough to have some entertaining sequences but couldn't find any.

Even after getting a good star cast to roll on, the director, Saurabh Kabra's misses on his big break. Though he thought of a good plot to work on, but was back stabbed by his own writers. The dialogues at some places are enjoyable but in the song department, it's again the good old formula to simply add the songs anywhere any time irrespective of any need. And in the end it's a perfect example of good intentions, a novel plot becoming a victim of poor execution. Was really expecting a surprise but it wasn't up to the mark.

The theme makes a brave attempt to drive across a social message that is very much serious and relevant in todays times. But midway the maker seems to have run out of steam to reach a logical destination or the financiers ran out of moolah. It seems the director was confused if he wanted to drive a social message in the garb of comedy or evoke laughter in the garb of a social message.

All the tracks are very crass. The newly wed couple seems more of boyfriend-girlfriend breakup rather than a marriage breakup. Sanjay Dutt/ Urmila romantic track reminds you of Robert De Niro in comedy-gangster movies. The father-son track seems to a reverse of Baghban.

The only good thing is it gives you an insight how the industry operates.

And the end? Where did it come from?

EMI is the story of several unrelated people and their bank loans. Ryan (Arjun Rampal) is a charming good-for-nothing DJ, who loves beautiful but demanding women, as well as a luxurious lifestyle he can afford only thanks to banks giving him one credit card after another. Chandrakakta (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) is an elderly gentleman whose love for his only son is unlimited, and who takes a huge bank credit to finance his son's studies in London, merely because the latter wants to "explose his life path". Anil (Ashish Chaudhary) and Shilpa (Neha Uberoi) are a young couple who believe married life should start with a minimum amount of wealth, and therefore borrow a lot of money for their wedding, their honeymoon, an apartment, a car, and a laptop. Prerna (Urmila Matondkar) is an elegant young woman, whose husband committed suicide, and because she is not entitled to any insurance money, she cannot maintain herself and her 5 years old daughter anymore.

After a year, all these people are in deep trouble, because they cannot repay their debts. Sooner or later, they all fall prey to Sattar Bhai (Sanjay Dutt), a merciless gangster who owns a recovery agency. Sattar, however, has a major problem: he wants to be a politician, and therefore has to take his mentor's advice: "Treat people with respect, so that they will respect you as well. Then you will win." Thus, instead of having his goons beat up his poor, insolvent clients, he decides to help hem out.

The subject of EMI (Easy Monthly Installment) is far from pleasant: the ongoing credit crisis is proof enough of what can happen when people massively take loans they can't pay back later. That is also the morale of the story: be careful with loans! Yet, EMI is a pleasant and fairly uncomplicated feel good movie, taking the loans problem from a rather optimistic angle.

Sanjay Dutt is great as always, although this is obviously not a particularly challenging type of role for him. If you need a friendly gangster, take Sanju Bhai. More than once, I couldn't help feeling like I was watching Munna Bhai 3 (or 4, if you include Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin), although it should be said that EMI is not as good as the Munna Bhai movies. For the rest, Arjun Rampal does a great job and makes his part into something really interesting, Urmila is beautiful and fascinating, Kulbhushan gives an impressing performance as the honest, static father of a somewhat spoiled son. From the entire cast, I can't really think of anyone who did a poor job in this movie. Even Malaika Arora did not spoil anything.

The movie has a few great moments. I particularly like the scene in which Ryan teaches Sattar, hopelessly in love with Prerna, how to behave at a romantic dinner ("You don't have to kill the chicken, it is already dead!"), and the scene in which Sattar is feeding his sidekick "Decent" huge amounts of alcohol to find out what he really thinks.

All in all, EMI is not too ambitious and quite predictable, a tad moralizing as well, but sympathetic and well-performed.

Indian cinema seldom gets the pairing right. More often than not, it is an over 50 hero romancing a 20-something, good enough to be his daughter.

Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar is one of the few instances when Indian cinema got the casting right. Both match up to one another in charisma, screen presence and sex appeal. Both are tremendously underrated actors. Both excel in doing difficult roles. No wonder, we get a good looking pair with crackling chemistry. That Bollywood failed to utilize them more is very much on expected lines.

That being said, for the discerning audience it will be easy to notice the three times Sanju and Urmila were actually paired, they were all movies with different themes and treatment. Besides, the music in all three of them were good.

Daud was a spunky, road movie with the duo in their best looks. AR Rahman experimented with the music, and served up a variety which the audience failed to understand, especially considering they were yet to get over Rangeela.

Khoobsurat was a romantic comedy, with some beautiful music by Jatin-Lalit.

Then, there is EMI. The track between Sanju and Urmila is short, but involves a mature romance, a rarity in Indian cinema. There is a certain class appeal about the manner this story unfolds, peaking with Mohit Chauhan's power-packed ditty Kitni Baatein...

The movie has a unique story, and the director handles it decently. However, considering the producers didn't promote the movie at all, it was a disaster.

Personally though, I like the manner in which Sanju has portrayed Sattar, despite making an arrival only before the interval. Besides, his romance with Urmila is maturely handled and makes for great viewing.

EMI - Liya Hai Toh Chukana Padega!) is a comedy film directed by Saurabh Kabra and starred Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Urmila Matondkar, Ashish Chaudhary, Neha Oberoi and Malaika Arora.

Criminal don-aspiring politician Sattar Bhai runs a collection agency he uses unconventional methods to make four defaulters repay their debts.

A film made with a good plot and good story falters due to primarily bad execution and poor editing which makes the film dull, slow and boring and despite of marvelous acting by Sanjay Dutt the film fails to entertains much.

The first half of the film and the character introduction is superb and the film runs with a decent pace but the film starts crumbling in the second half as it seems that the director was in a hurry to finish the film, the climax of the film could've been at-least 15 minutes longer to give the film a decent closure.

Acting in the film is good and the music is also good songs like "Aaja aa bhi jaa" and "Chori Chori" were a hit at the time of it's release.

Overall an average film which could've been better with little more crisp editing and better climax. The film can be watched once.