Red: The Dark Side

Some films should never be made and Vikram Bhatt's Red is exactly that kind of film. Disguised as a thriller, Red is the most predictable film you've possibly seen, even a four-year-old can correctly guess where it's all leading up to. What's worse, you can make that guess 10 minutes into the film. The sorry excuse for a plot centres around Aftab Shivdasani who's saved from imminent death by a heart transplant. The heart in question belonged to a man who just died in a car accident. This man happens to be Celina Jaitley's husband and less than 10 minutes since he's discharged from hospital Aftab starts stalking Celina.Before you know it, the two of them are chewing each others lips off and making out like a pair of rabbits. As the affair continues, Aftab learns from Celina that her husband had been having an affair with her best friend Amrita Arora, who's responsible for her husband's death. When Celina complains she's being harassed by the person who killed her husband on Amrita's instructions, Aftab kills the guy to protect his lady. But it all becomes an ugly mess when the police discover enough clues that are traced back to Aftab. You know, it doesn't even take an expert to point out the root cause for why this film doesn't work – it's got a plot that's as flimsy as Celina Jaitley's nightgown. Believe me, I've read class five essays that are better written. What amazes me is the fact that nobody who worked on this film realised that something as basic as common sense was so badly missing in the script. As a result, every minute of this film is sheer torture to endure.When you don't have a story to tell, why make a film at all? That's the question I'd like to ask the producer, the director and the writer of Red who have wasted both money and time in bringing this nonsense to screen. Vikram Bhatt once made some half-way decent Hollywood rip-offs, remember Kasoor and Raaz – they weren't too bad. Red as far as I can see, is not a copy of a Hollywood film – which makes perfect sense because Hollywood wouldn't be so stupid to make such a rubbish film. I must add here that throwing in a generous dollop of love-making can't salvage a film as lame as this. So, all the heaving and sighing, all the grunting and moaning, all the bumping and grinding between Aftab and Celina, does nothing for Red. Of the principal cast, it's a miracle Amrita Arora manages to show what a lousy actress she is in barely five minutes of screen time. Celina Jaitley, for her part, has close to two hours to display her incompetence. Doused in make-up, even while doing a wet, shower scene, she simpers and whimpers and plays the damsel in distress so unconvincingly, you're willing to pay her admission fees to a good acting class. By virtue of the fact that the other two perform so badly, Aftab Shivdasani comes off looking just marginally better, although this is hardly the kind of work to be proud of. There are very few films that have no merits at all, usually you'll like at least something in every film. But Red is a picture that's devoid of any artistic credibility at all. I still don't know what's the significance of the title. Did they call it Red because they anticipated the colour of anger that you'll be consumed with after seeing the film? Or is it because Red rhymes with "dead" which is how you feel when you leave the cinema?

Suspense thriller? There was not a jot of suspense all through, I was more interested in the film's ending not because the twist would be revealed in the last reel but because it would mean the end of the 1 hour 45 minutes discomfiture. Even Himesh Reshammiya's great music couldn't make it better. Aftab's acting was good but Celina does not even know the ABC of acting all she knows is how to show off her body. In most of the scenes there is definitely something that has a red colour e.g. Aftab's red shirt, Amrita's red top, Celina's red dress and red light in the night club that is an OK idea because it kept on reminding you of the title but when the whole screen goes red before the next scene that was far to annoying. The story was good but it was far too slow although it's nearly 2 hours it seems like a 3-hour movie. The ending was quite clever but what is the use of watching a film for its ending?

Red: The Dark Side review :

Before hitting gold with the horror genre, Vikram Bhatt dabbled in everything from love stories to hard core action to erotic thrillers. Red: The Dark Side was one such erotic drama he directed starring Aftab (Faffy) Shivadasani, Celina Jaitley and Amrita Arora. It was quite an unforgettable experience for me at Movetime Starcity, Matunga where there were just a handful of patrons with me in the Saturday late evening show. I had strolled in to the cinema after enjoying a couple of drinks with my friends and that could be the reason I actually enjoyed the film tremendously as a guilt pleasure.

Red starts with a depressed looking Faffy who gets his ailing heart transplanted from a donor. The inquisitive type that he is, Faffy gets the information about his donor from his doctor friend (the ever pretty Kishori Shahane in a cameo) and then sets to befriend his donor's widow (Celina Jaitley) who is convinced her hubby was murdered by his girlfriend (Amrita Arora) with whom he was having an extra-marital. Oof!!

The acting was minimalistic. So was the lead actors clothing particularly Celina Jaitley.. Admittedly, she looked damn hot in the movie and I loved her more here than even in her debut Janasheen (2003). Nah, it wasn't the 'daaru' influence, I bet ya!! Faffy was totally misfit in his role and he transformed many serious moments in to unintentional hilarity. Amrita got relegated to sidelines due to her ill-written character. She looked stunning though!!

The best part of Red was Himesh Reshammiya's songs which were mostly utilized for lovemaking scenes between Faffy and hottie Celina. Normally, I have seen people walk out for a smoke during songs but no one ventured out during Red probably as they didnt want to miss the sex scenes.

Don't wish to play spoiler (not that you would care..), but Red ended on an expected note where you knew who the culprit was long before...but I still walked out getting my tickets worth. This is one guilt pleasure cinema I will never forget. Cheers!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Rich Niel Obroie suppose to die. unexpected return-back to the life tends him to search for the source of his life donation, He meet Anaida Lonely beautiful Widow who's husbands accident caused Niel to return-back to life. both of their loneliness leads them into new relationships, it brings complicated turning points in his life. This film credits totally new path among thriller movies from "Bollywood". totally this movie direction give some thing new experience in Indian movies... The name of the movie reflect exactly the content of the movie....every shots are perfect for a thriller movie.. especially the color and lighting tone etc.... ) Aftab and Salena too done their work good music also so nice only one negative aspect is Himesh's Monopoly on songs. otherwise it is a perfect thriller.