Aankhen

Aankhen, A Dangerous Game is a film worth watching just for the superb acting. Starring Amithabh Bachan, Akshay Kumar, Shushmita Sen, Arjun Rampal and Paresh Rawal is a great noteworthy cast. The Big B excels himself playing the shizophrenic bank manager, who after getting the sack from his beloved bank decides to seek revenge by carrying out a bank robbery. His performance is electrifying,(very DeNiro like) even when he is not talking his expressions tell it all. Aside from his acting the guy looks great too, not totally reinventing himself but the last shot of him leaves you thinking whether that was just Amithabh Bachan ( or Ali G)

Akshay Kumar as Vishwas performs great but mainly because his character is more developed than that of Arjun Rampal. Akshay plays one of the blind men with a a twist, he has a sixth sense. At first this seemed absurd but it provided a reason for the great scenes between Akshay and Amithabh Bachan so it could possibly be excused by the audience.

Arjun's performance is somewhat overshadowed by the rest of the cast. His character Arjun provides the subtle love story developing with Shushmita Sen. Arjun looked great although it can be criticised that he and Akshay looked too good to be blind men, but the movie is very much in this century, where not every blind person is seen as poor, although Paresh was given that role for good measure. Paresh Rawal as Ilias gives an outstanding performance. In Aankhen he is given the opportunity to shine whereas in many of his past films, he is the same old villain or the joker who is only there to provide the laughs. Ok so the latter point may be true in this film too but here it is the relationship between the three blind men that give it its subtle humour, allowing the audience to relate to the characters.

Shushmita Sen plays Neha the schoolteacher who is there to train the blind men. Not only does she look great on screen without the skimpy dresses but also her ability to carry out the role has to be her greatest performance so far. Although she does nothing outstanding in the movie that will leave you in awe of her, her acting throughout the whole film is consistent and you are left with no doubt of her brilliant performance.

The script is great and deserves a round of applause, the debut from the director has proved that he is one to look out for. The climax to the film is thrilling and makes sure that everything comes out completely intact without any details left out. Although it has to be said that although the ending is different it does leave the viewer unsatisfied.The music is not upto scratch and could have been improved.

Overall if you've watched Oceans Eleven this could be said to be the Hindi version. A must watch for any movie goer. If you want to see something different from Bollywood this is the one, hopefully more great story lines are to come abt, (heard Company is a good one to watch out for.

This is one Game that should not be Missed!!!

A surprisingly good offering from Bollywood. A bank robbery is planned by a disgruntled ex-employee who is upset because he was fired. The plan involves recruiting 3 blind people, training them, etc. The goal, of course, is to rob the bank while making all the witnesses believe that the perpetrators were not blind. If they are caught, who would believe that they were the thieves, right ? But, twists, double crosses and love-twists abound. Understandably, filming such an intricate plot elegantly is beyond Bollywood writers/directors. The plot gets somewhat flimsy at places, where the director tries to forcibly insert some bollywood-ese sections. On the whole, a worthwhile film to watch. Amitabh shines. Paresh Rawal's melodrama is painful to watch. One gets the idea that this was an attempted copy of some Hollywood film.

The other guy that commented on this movie, obviously didn't know what he was talking about. This movie was great. One of a few thrillers from Bollywood. Sushmita Sen, and Arjun Rampal gave a breath taking performance. Amitabh was great as usual. The plot line of this movie was good, and it keeps your attention with twists and turns along the way. By the way, for the guy that asked, Aankhen means blind. Before you rent, or buy a Bollywood movie, you have to be ready to listen, to a lot of song, and watch a lot of dances. Indians who have a rough life, like to watch movies with a lot of songs to up lift their spirits. If you like bollywood movies, this one is very very good. It is a must see! With a 9 out of ten on MY personal scale

Just when you have given up on Hindi films after the last round of disastrous flicks like Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai, Durga and Vadh, there comes a film that restores your faith in Bollywood.

Aankhen has a Hollywood-style bank robbery plot executed without compromising too much on the three must-haves of Hindi films --- songs, three hours and gaping holes in the plot.

Vijay Singh Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) is the manager of Vilasrao Jefferson bank. He has chosen celibacy to prove his dedication to his work. But his pent-up frustrations burst out against his employees --- the watchman caught sleeping on the job, the cashier who tries to siphon off a few notes before he hands it over the counter.

After he beats the living daylights out of the nincompoop sweaty cashier, Rajput is fired from the bank he has served for over 25 years.

The official reason for his behaviour is that Rajput has schizophrenia, which explains why he is obsessed with taking revenge on his employers and co-workers --- all of which some of us fantasize about through our lives. The only difference is that Rajput goes a step further and does what others only dream of doing --- get even with the bosses.

He decides to extract his revenge by robbing the bank and finds a cast of three blind men, Vishwas Prajapati (Akshay Kumar), Arjun Verma (Arjun Rampal) and Ilias (Paresh Rawal). Svelte teacher Neha Srivastav (Sushmita Sen) also carries out his bidding.

While the three blind men are in it for the money, Neha plays along because Rajput has her younger brother captive. Using her skills as a teacher, Neha simulates the bank's interiors and teaches the trio the tricks to pull off the heist.

After over 40 days of training in a simulated environment, the three blind men step into the bank to pull off the most novel bank robbery Bollywood has seen. How they do it forms the rest of the film.

Aankhen defies all the rules of commercial Hindi cinema. The heroes are blind and are actually listen to a woman who seems more intelligent and capable than all of them put together.

The plot doesn't lose sight of its goal -- the bank robbery -- and refuses to get side-tracked into mindless romance or songs. Conceived and executed like a taut Hollywood thriller, Aankhen is an impressive breakaway from the cliché ridden formula filmmaking that afflicts Bollywood.

The credit for this belongs to debutant director Vipul Shah and his team. Shah is in completely in control of the film, whether it is in the dramatic sequences or developing the chemistry among the cast.

The story of Aankhen has been adapted by writer Aatish Kapadia from his own Gujarati play, Andhla Pato (Blindman's Buff), first staged in 1992. Thanks to his experience with the theatre where taut scripts are necessary to hold the act together, Kapadia's screenplay is one of the film's strong points.

The other is the cast and characterisation.

As Vijay Singh Rajput, Amitabh Bachchan has turned in one of the finest performances of his career. He pulls off the most ludicrous situations with credibility and style. In a role that changes colours, starting as an upright bank officer morphing into a man obsessed with pulling off a bank robbery for revenge and finally turning into the villain who is prepared to go to any lengths to get his booty, Bachchan is glorious. He proves himself worth the sobriquet of the 'superstar' of Hindi cinema.

Not to say that the others are overshadowed by his presence. As the blind man with that extra-sensory perception, Akshay Kumar holds his own in every scene. He brush-offs with Bachchan are dramatic and he brings a quiet intelligence and depth to his role. Every time he senses the silent Rajput hovering in the background, the screen crackles with electricity.

The chemistry between him and Paresh Rawal is delightful. Akshay's thinking demeanor offsets Rawal's light-hearted quick-to-crack a joke countenance. With a role that is funny and irreverent, Rawal gathers the audience's laughs and proves his onscreen brilliance yet again.

Arjun Rampal looks good, has a good body and a goodr screen presence but falls flat, partly due to poor characterisation. His is the only role that appears half-baked and Rampal only makes it worse.

Sushmita Sen's role of Neha deserves an extra round of applause. Unlike most Hindi film heroines who come across as bimbettes and whose only aim is to get into the hero's way at the climax, Neha doesn't need a man to exist. She is intelligent and capable, even during the climax.

However, the film has its fair share of flaws. The pace tends to sag intermittently and the actual robbery comes as an anti-climax to the tension built during the training. Besides, the robbery also appears terribly tame.

The three-hour film tends to get you a little fidgety towards the end. Bipasha Basu and Kashmira Shah in 'item' numbers aggravate the cramped legs in an already stretched out film.

But in all, Aankhen is different from your usual Hindi flick. It is a fast paced, slick thriller, a species rarely encountered in the annals of the Hindi film industry.

The movie is about a recently fired schizophrenic bank manager scheming to get even with his employers by robbing the bank with the help of three blind men and a beautiful blind school teacher! Amitabh Bachchan as the bank manager excels in his role. He is one of the most talented guys out there today. Pity not all his movies are as good as this one or his earlier Aks. The movie moves with a fast pace initially, but slows down towards the middle with cursory song and dance sequences spoiling its pace(the two songs - one with the three blind guys and the other in the bar are very painful to sit through). It picks up pace towards the end and even has quite a few surprising twists that I most certainly didn't expect in a mainstream hindi movie! Good job director and script writer! Thank goodness you didn't make the movie boring by removing those twists and giving us a bland fare which most box-office fearing mediocre directors would have done. Akshay, Paresh, Arjun and Sush all perform their roles well.

There are a few glitches in the movie - like the name of the bank. A most ridiculous name. Then the location of the bank itself. A bank that has a lobby looking like that of a 3-star hotel is located in the midst of a busy and dirty side street in Mumbai! Sure! None of the songs are appealing, except the one with Bipasha Basu - in fact the rest of the songs are really irritating and definitely jarring in the midst of an interesting screenplay. Directors of India - I LOVE songs in a movie; but not when it interrupts the movie's flow drastically.

Overall, a must see movie.