John Day

What has a a very solid plot has turned into a mockery, with abrupt screenplay & extreme unwanted violence. And the high usage of profanity just adds to the awful narrative.

No dots are lined as it proceeds with a fine story about the plight of a bank manager whose daughter just dies & bank just got robbed. Things go awry for both the viewers & the makers when Randeep Hooda enters with a rusty look & foul mouth. His character is supposed to be deep, but ends up being superficial.

Performances aren't that great with respect to the marvelous cast. The second half is tad confusing & ends up in a usual standoff which is not only inappropriate but also bogey.

High time, Bollywood makers stop remaking movies and turn to something original. Box 507 is a clever thriller with shoddy filmmaking.

BOTTOM LINE: Not recommended, because all you will lose is your time and money because John Day disappoints!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NO

Profanity: Infinity | Violence/Gore: Very Critical | Alcohol/Smoking: Strong | Drugs: No | Porn/Sex: Strong | Foreplay/Mouth-Kiss: Very Mild

How much of JohnDay you would like depends on the quantum of on screen blood and gore you can assimilate.Produced by Anjum Rizvi(A Wednesday) and directed by Ahisor Solomon, this thriller examines the transformation of a saint to a beast and the thin blurred line which divides their psyche in the cold brutal world with no comic relief.

JohnDay(played by Naseeruddin Shah),a bank manager by profession, and a doting father loses his daughter in a brush fire and years later serendipitously discovers the fire was not the result of an accident but rather subterfuge. John swears revenge and finds himself embroiled in a web of intrigues involving corrupt bureaucrats, Mafiosos and other criminal elements which also includes the nihilistic cop with a terrible past,Gautam(Randeep Hooda).

Solomon unfurls the suspense quite lazily.The motivations of the characters are never revealed,is deeply layered and this well-crafted drama gets busy and stays busy with a coolly cerebral approach which avoids extremes of emotion,romance, and other visceral appetizers though there is blood letting aplenty.In one scene we see the almost-psychopath cop,Gautam tearing off the tongue of a criminal and devouring in the sadistic pleasure when blood squirts out of his mouth.In another one,John in a move of self-protection, bites and rips apart the neck of one of the goons who is recklessly after his life. Now this is definitely not for the faint-hearted !

John Day assembles the impeccable Naseeruddin Shah and the intriguing Randeep Hooda in the cat-and-mouse chase and both are equally sincere in their performances. A rather-talented Shernaz Patel who plays Shah's wife ,disappointingly, spends almost all her reel hours as a comatose while Vipul Sharma,playing Hooda's apprentice, gets his act right. Makrand Deshpande and Bharat Dhabolkar make pleasing cameos in this inky kingdom of betrayal,power-play and greed.

An edgy plot of the doomed and the damned,I would recommend JohnDay for those who fathom violence and profanity with the same cynical alert that Hooda's character throws at his prey , while stuffing biriyani till the latter suffocates in despair," Tu Dal-Chawal kha, Biriyani tere bas ki baat nahin hai"

I was extremely disappointed when he was holding to the cross and they were beating him, the movie was a real movie, no super heroes not a common Hindi movie that heroes fly and get shot ten times and survive, then suddenly they add a hidden power to it, like Jesus saves him...whats the chance in real life to be in a situation where you are being beaten by four gang members and SOME mysterious power saves you? You spoilt it, really, if from the beginning of the movie you had super powers we would not be surprised. But it looked like a real life scenario and suddenly added that silly scene. Its like you are eating Biryani and you get Rasgula in it.

The posters of this film had a tag line "An edge of the seat thriller by the producer of A Wednesday" and they were also designed in a style reminding you of that path breaking film of 2008 right away. The artwork had two men standing against each other just like A Wednesday with a strong common factor of Naseeruddin Shah catching your instant attention as desired. So the first job to make the viewers interested in this not so big, off beat kind of thriller was well done by the makers and a particular section did become eager to watch it expecting another fine film from the same production house as conveyed.

But unfortunately, JOHN DAY scores very less as a gruesome crime thriller and serves you nothing electrifying in this particular genre to fulfill the expectations raised. It begins on a very slow, calm and uninteresting note with no gripping sequences coming in for a very long time. As a result, all excitement is lost within the first 30 minutes itself, which was not really expected from the makers of A Wednesday. The pace is too lazy till the interval and the film simply fails to establish any kind of connect with the viewers waiting for something explosive. Post interval too the actors keep suffering due to the bad script but the pace does pick up in its last 30 minutes, which thankfully offer you something to keep sitting in the theater. Otherwise it remains a pretty avoidable venture throughout wasting the volcanic talent of Naseer along with all the other known actors in the star-cast.

Playing the tough, corrupt cop, Randeep does try to put up an intense show with few of his cruel scenes, including the one wherein he eats out the tongue of a criminal and another where he simply smashes the face of an informer like a mashed-up apple. But surprisingly, the same cannot be said about Naseeruddin Shah who simply plays it just like another unimportant assignment accepted in his available time. The supporting cast gives you nothing great to mention specifically, except Vipin Sharma who once again sends up a clear reminder to the industry that he is simply waiting for that one life-transforming role to showcase his unexplored skills eagerly.

Rightly made as a song-less venture, both its background score and camera work try real hard to give you a feeling of watching something off-beat, moving ahead of the usual crime thrillers on the lines of A Wednesday. But in absence of anything substantial in its script, content or execution, they are not able to save the film from sinking and all we have is only few engaging moments towards the end and nothing more than that. The suspense build up fails to keep you glued and the revelations are not made in any convincing style which ideally form the backbone of an exciting crime thriller talking about conspiracies. Interestingly as a first, the project has a 'Smoking Warning' displayed throughout the film till the end which is indeed a debatable way to tackle the Censor restrictions put on the issue.

Now coming to the key negative feature of JOHN DAY, the film is once again an unofficial rip-off from a Spanish film LA CAJA 507 or BOX 507 released in 2002. Honestly, a few scenes directed by the debutant Ahishor Solomon are comparatively more engaging than the original movie. Yet they cannot be presented as an excuse or argument supporting any 'copy-act' like this at all. Actually, the moment one comes to know about the copied status of such a film, all its (few) merits turn into demerits and you are not able to praise any kind of superlative effort made by the director whole heartedly. Ahishor has got the talent and he can surely come up with a gripping crime thriller as his next in all possibilities. But talking about his present JOHN DAY, it doesn't deliver what it promises in its promotional campaign and posters, so better watch it when its there on the TV channels in a few weeks time and play it safe.

Ahishor Solomon's 'JohnDay' is Gripping In Parts, but not entirely. Reason? An Erratic Screenplay & Slow-Pacing. Had this vendetta fare had a strong Screenplay & a better pace, I'm sure, it would've developed into a much superior film.

'JohnDay' Synopsis: JohnDay loses his daughter & later realizes her death was a part of a conspiracy led by corrupt cops & gangsters.

To give its due, 'JohnDay' begins superbly & has a power-packed first-hour, though the pacing is consistently slow-paced. The second-hour falters badly, the sequences don't leave a mark, the pacing gets even slower & the culmination is plain ordinary. Also, the excessive violence puts you off completely. Yet, all said & done, A better Screenplay & better pacing were certainly needed! Ahishor Solomon's Direction is noteworthy. Cinematography is grim. Editing is dull.

Performance-Wise: Naseeruddin Shah as JohnDay, adds anger but absolutely no depth to the character. Randeep Hooda is much better. He delivers a ferocious performance as the corrupt, evil cop. Vipin Sharma, also portraying a corrupt cop, is incredibly loathsome. Sharat Saxena is electrifying. He portrays a strong supporting role with absolute flourish. Elena Kazan is okay. Shernaz Patel is terrific. Makarand Deshpande & Deepak Shirke are outstanding in cameos.

On the whole, 'JohnDay' has merit, but it never quite reaches the goal it targeted.