Kaante

To say honestly, this is probably one of the best Bollywood films from recent years. Considering that it's a total ripoff (and not the first time) of Hollywood crime and gangster movies, that's saying a lot.

The movie revolves around six Indian hoods living in L.A., each with a history or current involvement in crime. You have leader Major (Amitabh Bachchan), loose cannon Ajju (Sanjay Dutt), club bouncer Mark (Suneil Shetty), techie Andy (Kumar Gaurav), bumbling Bali (Mahesh Manjrekar) and his more sane partner, Mac (Lucky Ali). All of them have a desperate need for money for their own separate reasons and decide to band together and rob a bank. Upon doing so, they discover that the police were tipped off to it, and then try to discover which of them is an undercover cop.

The plot can be split into three separate acts, most of the first being derived from The Usual Suspects, the second from Heat, and the third from Reservoir Dogs. The first part (having little to do with the rest of the movie) serves as a character setup, through a police interrogation about a truck, the second about the planning of the robbery, and the third as it's aftermath. Every sequence taken almost page by page off their "inspiration." It's here that most would differ on the film, but I'm looking beyond.

All of the actors are well cast, save perhaps Lucky Ali and Kumar Gaurav. All a great at playing the tough guy, yet also as their individual characters. Sanjay Dutt portrays an essence of total badass gangsta, and Manjrekar provides some of the film greatest laughs as a bafoon with an affinity for sex an obscene jokes.

Which brings me to my next point. I have never seen an Indian movie with the amount of swearing and vulgar content as this one, probably because of it's Western source material. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind it, but it goes to extremes. I didn't get the idea of an Indian strip club nor how and why the six got to where they were. The film makes a point that there is a huge Indian crime culture in L.A., which I don't believe for a second.

Wowing me were definitely some fun jokes as I mentioned above, and the centerpiece shootout with the cops, referencing almost every big action sequence in film. Mindless, but fun. The de-saturated green picture gave it a gritty look adding to the feel. And of, course, no Bollywood movie is complete without songs, and luckily this one gives us a couple memorable ones which fit the movie, and serve more as background score rather than part of the story.

All in all a fun flick that in fun to look at and watch. Maybe I'm going soft on it since I am very fond of the three aforementioned Hollywood movies, but this movie takes those plot lines and makes them its own. 3/4 stars

It is nothing but a slower and longer version of Reservoir Dogs with songs and dance.

Nowhere touching close to the original.

Somebody who has not seen Reservoir Dogs has a good chance of liking this one. There are some good performances but the movie mostly seems like a patch work of Usual Suspects and Reservoir Dogs and does not have any new stuff worth mentioning. I also did not understand why they chose USA as the background in the movie. The director has used a yellow filter for most of the shots which makes it tiring on the eyes. Since the movie was made with the Indian audience in mind many dialogues get repeated in Hindi and English which gets annoying at times. Recommended for people who like Hindi masala movies and haven't seen the Hollywood originals. Otherwise there are better ways to spend your money.

This movie is an adaptation of Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", the only difference being that there are more people in the movie. I must say, for a bollywood movie, I got more to see than I expected. I saw this movie before watching Reservoir Dogs and the performances were simply brilliant. Amitabh, Sanjay and Mahesh Manjarekar make an excellent team. If you want to relax and watch an explosive bollywood movie on a friday night, this is exactly the kind of movie you are looking for.

This is a unique film in many ways, most of which have been touched upon. It is a refreshing new version of Bollywood film making. Cheers to Sanjay Gupta for taking the chance to be different.

Sanjay Dutt was excellent in this film. He reminds me of Jean Reno, and hopefully this will open him up to an international audience.

What I would also like to comment on is my performance as Detective Maquarrie. I busted my butt to give the audience a realistic LA detective, and did all my own stunts as well.

It was a pleasure working with some of Bollywoods best, they are truly a great bunch of guys and were very profesional. Hats off to all of them for taking a chance on this film.

If you have any comments, please feel free to e-mail me.

I can also be seen in last years "Windalkers" as a marine sgt., and you will be seeing alot more of me in the future.

Thanks to all that saw the film.

JF Davis