ब्लॅकमेल

The opening scene made me think I was in a karoke bar and my partner immediately left the room at that point. What made me enjoy this film was mostly about what it wasn't. It had no gratuitous sex scenes, the kid spoke correctly, didn't mumble and wanted to be a race car driver when he grew up, and not a gangster or pimp. It had a mixture of traditional Indian dress and high end western clothing. The flying through the air when shooting was typical but no bloody chest wounds went along with this. Nobody even got hurt when they were pummeling each other's face. Guess I'm just tired of run of the mill American action genre films.

I rented this movie out, only because i had nothing else to watch. The Trailer of this movie looked quite boring and had below average reviews. Judging by the name, you expect this kind of film to be a lame duck. I was caught by surprise, when i saw this Superb movie. Ajay Devgan gives a brilliant performance as the convict waiting for revenge, against the Police (Sunil Shetty) that put him in prison, and was responsible for the death of his pregnant wife (Diya Mirza). There are some great scenes in the movie like when Ajay finds out he has a son, and his son is the boy he kidnapped. Heart warming and a little emotional relationship between father and son. Ajay wishes to keep his son, but his son wants to go back to Sunil, who he considers his father. A nice entertaining movie that has some action, comedy, family relationships and good drama. The movie wasn't a Big Hit, which is quite a shame. In my opinion, this is a Good film, worth the watch. The gorgeous Priyanka Chopra has a small role.The movie belongs to Ajay Devgan delivering one of his Best performances I've seen. Watch out for the item dance sequence by the sexy Monalisa.

Despite a talented star cast, Blackmail looks so amateurish...I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't do so well.

Ace car racer and criminal Shekhar seeks revenge on cop Abhay Singh for getting him arrested and imprisoned even to the extent of costing Shekhar the life of his wife and child, 7 years after his release. But Shekhar is in for surprises and Abhay Singh has to figure out how to handle the ex conman who is behind him now. The hunter has become the hunted.

The film has amateurish conceptualisation, amateurish dialogue work, Weak acting, Poor editing and is overdramatic. There is unbelievable stuff, like surviving more than 24 hrs after being hit in the back by a bullet.

It does get thrilling at times, and there are a few melodious songs , best actor is probably Sunil shetty. Ajay Devgn is definitely a talented actor but in this film his talents are not used well.

Couldn't have worked.

First of all, I think labeling this movie as an action/thriller is a definite misnomer. It is more of a drama. However, I think it's pointless to think too hard trying to categorize films only to strictly expect things typical of a film belonging to that genre. I mean come on, this is Bollywood. Blackmail has it all--action, drama, romance, the works. I thought there were some good action sequences, particularly the carnival scene. Priyanka Chopra and Diya Mirza don't have much of a role and are simply there to add a couple of songs. The essence of this movie is the father-son relationship. Suniel Shetty's adopted son means everything in the world to him after losing his real son. Ajay Devgan's search for his son leads him to a shocking yet heartwarming realization. The father-son relationship has been portrayed absolutely beautifully in this film. The climax is a real tearjerker. All actors and actresses have given extraordinary performances.

Blackfail

They say that you have to taste the bitter to appreciate the sweet. Well, it is this humble reviewer's hope that the adage holds true in this case! 'Blackmail' is the first of the three black films that Bollywood has to offer in this new year(Anurag Kashyap's 'Black Friday' and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Big B-Rani starrer 'Black' are the other two). And one wishes that this wretched piece of film-making is only the bitter that will help us appreciate the sweet.

'Blackmail' is directed by Ajay Devgan's cousin, Anil Devgan. Understandably, one can excuse Ajay for having acted in this debacle. But then, Ajay also starred in this year's recent disaster called 'Insan'! Why do established actors like Ajay and Akshay Kumar(his partner-in-crime) have to act in movies like 'Insan' is something that baffles me. Especially when they are both financially sound and gifted in the acting department too!

Anyway, back to 'Blackmail'. If you care enough, here are the details. Shekhar(Ajay) is a former car rally driver who uses his driving skills to assist criminals from escaping the scene of crime. Jason Statham's 'The Transporter', anyone? After having eluded the police several times, he is finally caught by ACP Ajay Singh Rathore(Sunil Shetty) during a car-chase that results in the death of Shekhar's pregnant wife, but not before she gives birth to his child. Locked behind bars, Shekhar awaits his release and the opportunity to get even with Ajay. By the time he's out of prison, Ajay has a wife(Priyanka Chopra) and an eight year-old son Chirag(Parth Dave). The title of the movie doesn't really come into play until midway when Shekhar kidnaps Chirag for information on his own child's whereabouts. And just like Chirag is held hostage, we- the audience are held hostage to this mind-numbing crap as well.

Marketed as a thriller, the film hardly has any thrilling moments. The screamplay(written by Robin Bhatt) lacks vigour and the dialogues(Javed Siddiqui) are amateurish. Sample this- "Jail mein toh hawaldar bhi hawa mein udtaa hai". The cinematography(Nirmal Jani) is dizzy and the actions(Allan-Amin) irritate with its various influences(side note: 'The Matrix' should never have been released in India). The music department fails very badly, what with the songs sounding too familiar and the background score(Amar Mohile) lifted unashamedly from John Debney's fabulous work on 'The Passion Of The Christ'. Himesh Reshammiya seems determined to become the next rickshaw favourite after Nadeem-Shravan. His tunes cater specifically to this stratum.

Finally it is left to the competent Ajay Devgan to lend this film some credibility. And he does too! He performs his part with utmost diligence. But even he won't be able to guarantee success to this film. Sunil Shetty is terrible to say the least. He dresses up like a club bouncer and resembles anything but a man of the force. The women have pretty little to do than dance(especially an item song that is unquestionably in very bad taste). The only positive thing about this forgettable flick is its running time which is roughly about 120 minutes. And thank god for that!

• Abhishek Bandekar

Rating- *

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28th January, 2005