hprill

I've only seen the heavily edited 85-minute German version of this film, which is, above all, puzzling. With 50 minutes missing in comparison to the original Japanese version, this version contains not even two thirds of the original plot, making it and an abstract, seemingly disconnected sequence of unerotic S/M scenes and fragments of a plot showing a woman's life falling apart. There is a certain appeal in this abstractness in that it makes the main character's motivations completely enigmatic and lends a surreal touch to some of the scenes (what was that clairvoyante all about?), but my guess is that the full version must be an entirely different film, and probably a better one than what I have seen.

I can't say anything about the "real" movie, but even though it shows some sort of potential, the edited version comes across as mostly pointless.

From producer Ram Gopal Varma and director Sriram Raghavan comes a pretty good revenge thriller, which is definitely one of the better Indian movies this year.

Cast against his usual roles, Saif Ali Khan plays a slick criminal whose dealings with terrorists and the Delhi underworld get his girlfriend Sarika (Urmila Matondkar) into prison. However, toughened by prison life, Sarika manages to escape and takes revenge.

Progressing somewhat slowly during the first 15 minutes, but then gaining momentum at an increasing pace, this movie never slows down and manages to keep your interest for the full duration, which at only 120 minutes is significantly less than most Bollywood movies. There are also no disruptive song or dance sequences that would distract you from the plot.

In fact, one of the problems that I have with this movie is that it is a bit too short -- in particular the prison sequence seems rushed: Sarika's character development from the innocent, naive girl to the tough, cold-blooded killer is not fully developed and feels a bit sudden as a result.

My second problem is with the ending, which, while not inappropriate, feels a bit out of line with her previous revenge strategy. It still works fine, but one feels that it could have been built up better.

Other than that, however, there are no obvious problems with the plot, and acting is good from most main and supporting actors. Seema Biswas in particularly stands out in her role as the determined female police officer in pursuit of Sarika.

Definitely worth watching, and much better than anything Hollywood, USA has produced in this genre in a long time.