मर्डर

Another adult thriller successfully wins over the masses. Mallika's loneliness was very well depicted with the story taking place in a foreign land with no friends and people who speak an incomprehensible language. Malika's dialogue of how a married woman's loneliness is a hundred times worse than a single lady's loneliness, of how she slept with a stranger (her husband) every night, really struck a chord. Ashmit Patel didn't have much of a role but did a good job in whatever he did do. Mallika's romantic interest wasn't that impressive. Songs are outstanding! "Bheege Hont" is a mesmerizing romantic track, and "Kaho Na Kaho" is a captivating track that is definitely my new favorite song. Groovy beats, melodic rhythm, good intertwining of Arabic language, and an overall haunting melody make this song addictive. The story mainly picks up in the second half and is quite unpredictable. Mallika may be the new sex symbol, but she is definitely not a quality actress. Her dialogue delivery in the movie was absolutely pathetic as were her acting skills.

I liked this movie cause it was a refreshing change away from the usual nonsensical dribble Indian movies are famous for.

Unfortunately, the concept of originality seems foreign to Bollywood, as this movie is an almost complete ripoff of the 2002 movie "Unfaithful", starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Olivier Martinez...with a few new twists here and there.

Still, I gave it a high score cause it was fun to watch and good for an Indian film...plus we weren't drowned with inane dialogue and senseless song and dance routines every ten minutes.

7/10.

Storyline: The punchline of the movie says, "She is Married, She is lonely, She is having an affair". I guess this sums up the entire story. Now, one would be curious to ask, whether the skin-show is actually relevant. Well, I would recommend that you watch the movie to know more.

Comment: The story line is inspired by Adrian Lyne's UNFAITHFUL (2002) starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Oliver Martinez, with sufficient changes in the story to suit Indian Conditions. The performances are quite average and bearable. Mallika Sherawat has created new standards for skin show in Bollywood with this movie.

The Direction and Music have been given their due. The songs 'Kaho na Kaho' and 'Bheege Hont' would make the song worthy enough to have it as an mp3 in your collection. In general, the movie is watchable and makes a good pastime.

This is another excellent piece of work by Anurag Basu, who is following the footsteps of Vidu Vinod Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Mahesh Bhatt of post-Saransh era. I guess, you know what I am saying!

I wanted to give this movie a score of 7/10, as it disappointed me a bit initially, in that acting here is better than that in Hawas. However, as long as, everyone -- from the police inspector to the dentist's assistant in a foreign country -- is somehow Indian and speaks Hindi, I cannot rate it a mere 7/10. Add to that the wooden and constipated look of the Hashmi fella, and there is no way one can rate it anything less that 10/10.

Great movie. Highly recommended (though in my book, Hawas is the better of these two, as Hawas is more entertaining, with absolute lack of acting capabilities or diction).

Murder review :

The Hollywood film Unfaithful was a highly successful erotic thriller which did decent business in Indian cities as well. The plot involving a married lady who has an affair and how it seriously impairs her marital relationship won accolades globally particularly Diane Lane's sterling performance.

It wasnt going to be long before Bollywood would get "inspired" from this film and soon enough, Mahesh Bhatt wrote and produced Murder (2004) starring Mallika Sherawat and Emran Hashmi adding his own dose of melodrama and song and dance routine. Quite a few scenes from Unfaithful were copied as is. The formula worked as Murder was lapped up big time by the Indian audience and became one of the highest grossers of 2004. It transformed Mallika in to an overnight sensation and Emran Hashmi became a serial kisser for many years. Interestingly, both Unfaithful and Murder were released at the New Empire cinema in Mumbai.

I had seen Murder at Citylight cinema, Mahim where it ran to packed house for many weeks. Hawas wasn't released in my area so I rented its VCD. Both the Hindi films evoked quite a controversy in that year.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.