Bombay to Bangkok

A fun, entertaining movie about a guy who was a chef in a restaurant who makes a theft of a bag full of money as it was lying around in his restaurant, and when he knew that the bag he took was from Bombay's biggest mafia, he took the identity of a doctor who was going to Bangkok on a chartered flight and went to the local beauty parlour in Bangkok, where his life took a bizarre turn as he bumped into Jasmine.

This romantic comedy movie was fun to watch and is definitely worth your time, I may say. The main soundtrack, which you will hear at the start of the movie too, was amazing. I love this type of small movie with a story, as it's all chaos, emotion, and love. Just amazing!

Not a masterpiece, but definitely a friendly and entertaining movie. A tad slow perhaps, but not enough to make it boring. Someone described it as "cute", and that's an excellent description for this one.

Except for Shreyas Talpade and the great Naseeruddin Shah (the latter only in a very short guest appearance), all roles in this movie are played by less-known actors. Nevertheless, they perform their tasks very well. Shreyas is both convincing and entertaining as Shankar. Lena Christensen's role was perhaps not a hard one, but she does a decent job nonetheless. Most of all, however, I enjoyed Vijay Maurya in the role of a rapping gangster who deep inside isn't that bad at all, and Manmeet Singh, who for a change plays a bigger role than the occasional taxi driver. I surely hope to see more of both gentlemen in the future. All in all, a well-chosen ensemble cast.

The story itself holds the middle between a road movie, a love story and a comedy of errors. Nothing special really, but good enough for an enjoyable movie.

As for the music, usually I admire the work of the duo Salim-Suleiman, but Bombay to Bangkok is definitely not their best work. The background is okay, but the songs hardly worth remembering. Besides, they don't really seem to fit well within the movie. But criticism aside, Bombay to Bangkok is a nice and entertaining movie, and there is no harm in watching it one time.

Bombay to Bangkok is the story of a small time cook in a dingy restaurant named Shankar (Shreyas Talpade). Faith leads him to Bangkok... well actually local Mafia goons makes him escape because he had stolen the money that they had received. There Shankar meets Jasmine (Lina Christianson). She is a masseur at a local club. Shankar falls in love with her. Because Shankar pretends he is a doctor and the Mafia keeps on chasing him Shankar hides the bag of money into one of the medical supplies going with the team of doctors that he is a part of now. Now after reaching Bangkok Shankar must take the help of his lady love to get the money hidden into one of the numerous medical supply boxes... Thats Bombay to Bangkok for you. The rest is all running around (read riding around)and some poor attempts at making this a comedy. The only highlights of the film are the songs that plays in the background whenever Shankar meets Jasmine and his dialogue "Ab bas mooh mat kholna!" (Now just don't open your mouth!) whenever Jasmin walks towards him because Jasmin cannot speak English properly and the only words that come out of her mouth are in Thai. Overall just a time pass film, that too if you have nothing else to do. Its hard to believe this as a venture of Nagesh Kukunoor. The same guy who gave us films like Hyderabad blues and Dor. Nagesh should stick to making 'his kind' of cinema and not try to be commercial. He has just proved he is not good at it at all. Good acting by Shreyas (as usual) and the man who played his friend 'Rashminder singh' or Rashes. The guy who plays KMK, the mafia Don's son definitely deserves special mention too. Other than that the whole cast of the film is a waste. Lina has a long way to go as far as acting is concerned. Lets face it - she is too wooden to act. Go watch it... if you have absolutely nothing else to do. NOTHING.

The usual stuff Kukunoor punch which keeps the viewers glued to the storyline is missing big time. "Dor" warranted a slow screenplay it but B2B seems painfully stretched to fill in the available time. Wonder if it was a result of Ghai's intervention.

Shreyas Talpade does his part fine. He is evolving into a fine and a mature performer.

Lina is strictly OK.

Yatin, Vijay Maurya & Jeneva Talwar are OK in their parts.

Manmeet Singh is a good discovery. Hope he gets a good footing into the Bollywood after this role as the lovable Sardarji.

Naseer is barely there for a few minutes.

Songs are definite force-fit. Sherlock Holmes famous phrase seemed to be a force-fit.

There is too much showcasing of Bangkok Tourism.

Definitely not belonging to Kukunoor's category by any standards.

I have not watched too many Bollywood films before, because to me, once you see one film, it is as if you watched it all. Really, the storyline is almost the same, the premise, the tearjerkers and whatnot. The differences that Bollywood films may have are its actors and actresses, the location, and the film title. That was how I perceived Bollywood films.

So, with much persuasion from my friends to give this film a try, I watched it with a heavy heart, thinking that I am definitely gonna waste my time watching it.

Boy, was I wrong. This film is not the typical Bollywood-style film. In fact, this film is so different that I believe maybe this is a new genre of India-made film, and I believe it will revive the rather slump in the movie-goers interest in Bollywood film.

Whilst this film maybe a bit slow in the beginning, it does pick up momentum in the later parts of the film. Which is quite good actually, as there is more time to understand as to why the lead actor were in Bangkok, far from his hometown in Bombay.

A special mention to the mafia's son character, which outperformed even the leading actor and actresses, being the tough guy outside but a soft soul at heart. He is very funny in a clumsy kind of way, without being spastic and an annoyance.

A score of 8 for this film, for its commendable effort in making a film that moves away from the typical and predictability Bollywood films is usually associated with.