Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena

What really is the problem with Bollywood? Easy money, too many movies. Since Bollywood became recognized as an Industry, it has become a lot more easier for people to produce movies. This brings a lot more people to the director's chair. This could and should have been a good thing. But unfortunately, the equation stayed: only 2 out of every 10 mainstream movies is actually worth spending almost 3hrs on. With a lot more quantity, we see a lot more crap (mostly easy rip-offs) and a lot more wannabes. Do I sound deluded by Bollywood again? It's because Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena is a rip-off of Confidence *ing Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman & Paul Giamatti.

Fardeen Khan as Arjun Verma is a con-artist (how many have we seen lately? Is it really that easy to make money? But that's a debate for another day/time). He gets hood-winked into pulling an heist to save his own life after his friend loses his (i.e. the friend's own) life after they (Hero+friend) successfully pull off a cheap heist. This is followed by another heist, and then a clinically-insane (as per Dr. Shariq)psychiatrist (Koena Mitra) turns up in one of those heists and then he (Fardeen Khan) has to double-cross someone and add a little coriander. Now cook for 27 minutes at 220C before garnishing with his friends & enemies & dhobiwallas - Mukul Dev, Kay Kay Menon, Gulshan Grover, and some *always friends* types. Serve with a hint of Feroz Khan for an after taste.

Yes, the movie is a badly cooked dinner. A Single dish that comprises the starter, the neutralizer, the main-course & the dessert. Actually, the coffee too. Suparn Verma, the director & writer of this movie tries hard, and fails spectacularly. (Actually, when it is a copy, what do *writers* actually write?). But no - he does do well in very few scenes scattered through out, a little denser in the beginning portions, and scarce onwards. But they hardly make up for the entirely passable movie that he has made. Fardeen Khan talks to the almost non-existent audience throughout the movie. His commitment to the narration meant he forgot to act. But I won't be naive enough to blame him - coz Kay Kay Menon, the actor of actors, is also lost. He's looking to play a character that's so two-dimensional, he might just have played a water-bottle better instead. For those interested, Feroz Khan shows his style in a walk-through role.

The point of this review is to tell you that if you have seen the original, save yourself - unless you like torture. If you haven't seen the original, you just may like it: If you don't realize that while Arjun Verma pulls off a fast one on his victims, YOU are the victim.

Rated: 1.5/5

Fardeen Khan's overacting + Koena Mitra's lack of emotion plus the factor that 80% of this movie is based on American movies makes this a very uncomfortable movie to watch. Even in the end when all the twists and turns are untied, the viewer really does not get a good grasp of what they were watching for the past two hours. It is so obvious that Koena Mitra was hired just for her looks. I would not even be surprised to hear that the producers hired her even before they heared her talk. Her monotonous voice made me physically ill whenever she was talking. From start to finish, she has the same tone of voice, no change or variation. What the hell did the producers think, throw in a couple of middle aged man, dress them up so that they look hip. Give them KOOOL hair cuts and throw in a beautiful girl just to get the sex appeal, not considering if she can act or not, mix this all together with some techno music and, you'll have a hit?????? This movie should have been never created.

It is not an adaptation; it was copied from two very good movies, House of Games & Confidence

House of Game, which revolves around how a group of Con artists con a Psychiatrist (The water pistol scene inclusive) and the over all premise is from the movie "Confidence" by James Foley. No imagination has been wasted in directing or writing screen play for this movie.

It almost appears like the director and screen play writer, well why stop there include light set up, camera angles, make up, costumes every one has decided to preserve their creativity (if any) for future I guess.

The cast has done a below average job when compared to the original cast. However, Feroz Khan was a breath of fresh air and has done an excellent job.

Suparn Verma is at it again after Qayamat, Janasheen, Zameen and Karam. This time he's done the screenplay as well as the direction and the results aren't too bad.

Arjun, a conman, messes with the wrong guy, Sikandar, on one of his jobs and in return has to face the death of his best friend as well as having to pay back the duped money, with interest (Rs. 400,000 in total). The problem: He's spent all the money. So he gangs up with 2 other friends, Jack and Rohit, along with Kaif (who is Sikandar's watch-dog, played by the brilliant Kay Kay Menon) and they have to pull a heist where they can recover the money in 10 days. Enter Natasha, a behavioral psychiatrist who wants to do a research study on the everyday life of Arjun. She joins forces with him and unfortunately gets deeply involved with the crime. The result: the heist is a success, but not how you would expect it.

Anyways, Sikandar is a little too impressed and blackmails them into another job, a bigger one this time, and it involves stealing from the regional underworld kingpin, Jahangir Khan (Feroz Khan, who else??). So a plan has to be schemed up to steal Rs. 25 Crores from Jahangir Khan. Now it gets a bit complicated, because a few characters are suddenly put into play together, as well as the introduction of Sharad Kapoor who plays a CBI officer on the hunt for Arjun.

From then on, the film becomes a little hard to keep up with because the characters become interspersed within the multiple stories and it all boils down to a not-so-explosive end.

A little about the cast: Fardeen has done a decent job, not having been given too much dramatics. He's had to just look cool and deliver straight-faced dialog. Koena Mitra does nothing much except confuse us with her personality and wear lingerie-like clothes in public. The by now infamous steamy song is a bit too steamy for family viewing. Gulshan Grover: nice and evil, the usual fare. Feroz Khan: ha ha.. u know Feroz Khan... he's still looking lecherously at woman and guessing the brand of perfume they're wearing while he runs his many business ventures. Mukul Dev, Kay Kay Menon and Rohit Roy are good in their roles. Being TV artists they have learnt to be patient and do justice to whatever roles come their way.

The film packs too many songs which sometimes break the flow, and I think almost every song is a remake of a popular Hip-Hop/R&B number from recent times. As far as the story goes, be prepared to see "inspiration" from Hollywood flicks like "Matchstick Men" and Confidence". Still, "Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina" is one of the better attempts at the currently popular crime thriller genre.

Finally a movie which is as sleek as its title, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena is surely a Bollywood step ahead. Story is about a conman Arjun who is the man with plan and who accidentally cons a don for which he pays a big price of losing his pal and partner Rohit.Now the dons after him for the money.He makes a gang of his own and then meets Natasha whom he cons for the money and Natasha in turn traps him in the hands of the don to con Jahangir, the don's rival.Now How they decide/plan to con Jahangir and also the don off their backs is all the movie about. Fardeen could have been better,Koena, Kay-Kay and Feroz Khan stand out in their streamlined characters and the music by Pritam is also Buzzing. This is definitely worth a watch and go for it!!!!