Race

Yet another action thriller by Abbas Mustan.

The basic theme goes like this: Two brothers (Saif and Akshaye) own a stud-farm. Racing is their passion, though Akshaye is more interested in money and alcohol and all the good life. Saif loves his younger brother more than anything else and thats why sacrifices his love Bipasha for him hoping Akshaye will improve and let go off his drinking habit after he marries and settles down. But things go horribly wrong when one of them is murdered and the whole movie takes a turn. Anil (a connoisseur for fruits) is the investigating officer and only makes an entry after the interval. And its up to him to solve the mystery of the death only to reveal that nothing is what it seemed.

Nice performances by most of the actors.

The movie is stylishly shot which adds to its character. Though, the action is a little over-the-top is handled well and did not seem ultra ridiculous.

Worth a watch! (Literally. The characters sport a nice collections of watches throughout the movie. :)

A nice movie by the promising duo. Another thriller that binds you till the end and where you don't know what is going to happen next. Acting performances of Anil Kapoor, Saif and Akshaye are all good, especially Anil Kapoor. He comes up with another good comic type role after Welcome. To see Johny Lever after such a long time was heartening. His 2 minute performance reminded of vintage Johny. And this film had something in it for the female leads as well. But I think that what the Indian directors need to learn is that the films can work even if you don't put songs in them. See Sarkar and Black. Alright this movie was not as intense as those two, but putting three songs while an investigation is going on in a thriller is a waste. That is why I rated this movie as 7 instead of 8. Overall a nice time pass movie which could be watched once.

My rating 8 out of 10...

Right from the start, this movie will hold you down. Frankly speaking, this movie's story is not that great, and you might have seen it earlier, with two brother fighting over money. But what is different is the way and manner of presentation. We have so many love stories, but every time it's the manner of presentation that makes movies great! Same is true for Race. Arguably the best movie of 2008. So many twists and turns, this makes for the best popcorn flick of 2008! I suggest you to watch it before the end of the year and make is count in the top movies! Katrina Kaif's acting skills have definitely improved, Bipasha is fine, Akshay Khanna is good but Saif's acting is the top notch point of this movie. He should go for more action movies...

A Must Watch! Go for it!

After seeing "Race", I could say that keeping the inspiration fact aside from their track record, Abbas Mastan are no doubt one of the top 3 directors of thrillers movies in Indian Cinema. And "Race" proves that again and the movie can be stated as the most impressive work from the director duo after their last few pale attempts.

"Race" is a high paced and slickly edited thriller with shocks & more shocks for the viewers at regular intervals. And with each new turn you come forward on the edge of your seat. As I don't prefer wasting words on giving out the story of the movie in my reviews, I would just like to add that its one of the most tightly written script and you dare don't go for a popcorn in between the movie or else you will miss a new twist in the story.

All the characters have a well defined role and the casting is just near to perfect too (with only Sameera Reddy as a miscast). Each person in the script has a plan against the other and after the light 20 minutes in the opening, the movie just picks up the speed with a kick start. At times you feel that its going too pacy and there are too much twists and turns in the plot, but still its all enjoyable to a great extent.

The first half has Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Khanna, Bipasha & Katrina as the lead. Saif clearly gives another powerful performance after "Omkara". Akshay Khanna too performs a tough role in an impressive manner. He can easily add this movie in his career's Top 3. Bipasha looks more ravishing than Katrina, but they both surely give the required "Oomph Impact" to the racy thriller.

At the end of the first half enters Anil Kapoor as the detective. And from here onwards you start enjoying the movie more with his one liners and comic timings. But Sameera seems to be unfit in her "Kitty-Karmachand" role as an assistant to Anil. Anil is very entertaining eating all kinds of fruits while he is investigating. Johny Lever is wasted as he is there only for one scene, but he had to be there since he is the lucky mascot of the director duo from "Khiladi" days. While watching "RACE", each time you think that now the whole plan is told, there comes another twist and this continues till the last scene of the movie.

The one thing which can be said as the weakness in the script is that there is no Police involvement shown in the crime. Anil Kapoor is supposed to be the only official detective looking into the case and he is too involved in the plot. The second half belongs to Anil and Saif equally and they both simply excel. The Climax is one of best in the recent times as it is not concerned in showing the victory of truth, but shows how the conmen win and respect the intelligence of the other. The songs are quite enjoyable but there is already plagiarism factor involved with "Pritam" lifting more than one tunes. The background score also seems to be inspired from "Mission Impossible" and "James Bond" Themes. I think the fast paced instrumental version of "Allah Duhai Hai" should have been used repeatedly in the background rather than the slow theme music. It would have given more pace to the scenes.

Summing up, this is one of the best works of Abbas Mastan, and one of the best Thrillers coming out of the Indian Film Industry. The only fear I have is that I should not receive any mails in the coming days that the movie is an inspired one. I pray that it should be an original work from the makers as this is indeed a commendable one.

Go for it, the movie can turn you into a fan of thrillers.

'Race' belongs to the list of crappiest films of 2008. I've been told to avoid it for a long time and I really would have but I did not have much of a choice. With all those ridiculous stunts (some shown in pathetic slow motion), MTV music video style Hinglish song sequences, actors wearing little clothes, 'surprising' twists that make no sense etc, 'Race' tries to be cool but it has NO substance whatsoever. Abbas-Mustan can add this hack to their heap of trashy films. 'Race' also does a very miserable job of ripping off Roland Joffé's 'Goodbye Lover' (which already was a silly film). However, any 'new' input the director duo put in their version only make 'Race' more stupid. Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna are at their worst. While Khan hardly does anything other than wear a forced expression of looking serious, Khanna overacts. Bipasha Basu continues to prove that directors need to really really work hard (in this case they didn't) to make her act while Katrina Kaif is a lost case. I never understood the hype surrounding Kaif (though she does touch herself in 'Race'). For me her acting talents are non-existent and her looks are too plain. Sameera Reddy's bimbo act falls flat (but this may mostly be due to the poor dialogue she's given) and Anil Kapoor should have retired ages ago. There is no chemistry between any of the actors. They obviously did it just for the money. The songs contribute to the list of abysmal soundtracks of 2008. 'Race' is just another disgrace to Indian cinema.