Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets

Newcomer director Vivek Agnihotri took the plunge of directly ripping-off the Hollywood hit 'Usual Suspects' in Bollywood as the lame excuse for a movie called 'Chocolate'.

Nothing is in the right place in this movie. Be it acting, storytelling, hard-hitting dialogues or even the screenplay. No loose ends are tied in the end. No explanations are provided for the actions of the characters. We never get to know why do these five friends (Irfan Khan, Suniel Shetty, Emraan Hashmi, Arshad Warsi and Tanushree Dutta) keep committing one crime after another. No explanations have been provided for the eccentricities of the lawyer, Krish Pundit (played by Anil Kapoor). Why does the character of Monsoon Iyer (played by Sushma Reddy) acts like Anil Kapoor's Personal Assistant if she is a crime reporter? And Krish Pundit says that he doesn't care if the characters of Irfan Khan and Tanushree Dutta are guilty or innocent. Still, he wants them to tell him the true story linking them to the boat incident and truck robbery! After all, he is their lawyer and he's bound to fight for their cause even if they're lying to him or not saying anything at all.

Music is pleasing to the ears. 'Mummy ko nahi hai pata' and 'halka halka' are the picks of the lot. Editing could've been sharper.Probably the editor was sleeping throughout the whole movie. Cinematography is awesome. If 'Chocolate' scores in any department it would be in the cinematography department as the beauty of London and its winter had been captured to the fullest. Vivek Agnihotri should be applauded for attempting something different but the problem lies in his execution. He doesn't know how to tell a story.

'Chocolate' is the worst remake of 'Usual Suspects' which was a success at the box-office and was declared a classic. I would recommend that you rather borrow the DVD of 'Usual Suspects' instead.

Innumerable movies have been copied and perhaps "Chocolate" qualifies for the worst when it comes to adapting for Bollywood. For starters, the story line is loaded with complexity. Added to it are the sub-plots which are far too many and should have been trimmed down to aid the comprehension of the Bollywood audience. And the non-linear progression adds to the woes. There are too many unwarranted "sex" references (read that "force-fit"). Basing the London was a bad idea.

Performance wise Anil Kapoor delivers a strong screen-presence. Next is Arshad Warsi. Tanushree Dutta attempts hard to display her "oomph". Emran Hashmi hardly leaves an impact. Sunil Shetty was extremely wooden. Irfan Khan is perhaps the worst considering the expectations that would arise when his name is associated with the project. Sushma Reddy is awful on both department, choice of costumes and acting.

I was amused to the opening credits stating "Inspired Films" presents. I suppose "Plagiarised Films" would more more apt.

It is really tough to understand actually what the hell the Director and the Storywriter tried to prove! To be very honest, at first it attracts me a lot. But, at the end when I got to see that there is no story at all, I was about to slap myself.

Starting was awesome, specially the way they give the intro of each person and gradually they went down and finally became a trash.

Songs are OK, cinematography is also cool. But a film deserves a story which was totally missing.

In Bangladesh we always expect good and classical Hindi films. Karan Johor or Yash Raj films have set up a level and we hope other director will try to touch or cross that level. To do so, they will have to stop making this types of films.

Before I begin lashing out against this movie, I want to clarify that I am not fully against "Indianized" remakes of Hollywood movies - if done nicely and with some common sense, they can turn out to be decent affairs.

But Chocolate shamelessly treads the path of being a horrible movie that was blatantly taken piece by piece from a class act such as the Usual Suspects. Kaante had glimpses of other great Hollywood movies, but still had a "characer". Nothing here.

At the end of the movie, I was left wondering - was the director just an extra-ordinary idiot or was it just the outrageous murder of a great movie that left me pulling my own hair and cursing out loud.

Anil Kapoor - who is a brilliant actor, mind you - was totally wasted in the movie. Ditto for Irfan Khan - who has given some great performances in the past. Arshad Warsi is usually a delight to watch - but not here sirs! The only person for whom this piece of trash suits is Emran Hashmi - who was his terrible self in the movie.

Simply avoid this at all costs - you will be doing yourself a big favor.

I saw director Vivek Agnihotri saying that "this film you can show around the world and proudly say that this is Indian cinema... this film is for intelligent people...". i went to see and i found that its a DUBBED version of Usual Suspect.

after HUM TUM ( harry met sally), salam namaste( nine months)now it is CHOCOLATE (ususal Suspect). i don't understand the logic of these directors...i think Indian government should stop releasing English movies in India so we can feel bollywood movies are original, and we can save our money.

the answer of each director over this is same...its inspired...or ....its just coincident....well chocolate is not inspired it is clone of usual suspect. the director beat Mr. Deepak Tijori (KHAMOSH/IDENTITY). thats what i can say.