The Xpose

THE XPOSE begins exactly like a 60's film with a song in the titles and then a voice-over introducing the cast cast with some interesting one liners. Next it straight takes you on to a revival journey into the Golden Era, revealing few dark secrets of the industry pointing towards some known names and therefore fails to give you anything in the name of a murder mystery till intermission.

The film returns back to its actual theme in the second half dealing with the various suspects, but here too we have another detailed reference of a major 70s hit which flopped initially. The narration manages to keep you engaged in its final 20 minutes when the pace picks up and the revelations are made. But again a very weird & hilarious way to point out the murderer (by simply staring at them) ruins the minimal impact generated quite cruelly. The director tries to justify its basic genre forcefully, with another twist in the end. Yet the film simply cannot be rated as any highly focused, intelligent crime mystery, all together.

An intense crime drama all depends upon how the director conceives his individual characters and their mutual relationships on the screen skillfully. However that's exactly where THE XPOSE falters badly since the script fails to justify any particular character, their various affairs, allegations and the hidden jealousy arising from the flops or hits. The culmination sequences start happening too easily without any major explanations provided, taking away all the charm. Further the well promoted but surprisingly small appearances of stars like Yo Yo Honey Singh and Irrfan Khan turn out to be mere 'publicity cheats' played by the makers to bring in some added footfall. In its technical department, the background score successfully manages to keep the spirit alive and the DOP effectively gives a glossy look to the film as required.

Musically, once again Himesh has more than one melodious track with some fine lyrics in it like "Sheeshe Ka Samunder" & "Dard Dilon Ke Kam Ho Jaatey". Honey Singh shines in his part of the song in "Hai Apna Dil To Awaara" and here I would certainly like to compliment Himesh for his catchy, selective and minimal arrangements which really sound quite soothing, away from all the overstuffed noise served as music.

However in the performance section, Himesh looks too arrogant and stiff playing it over confidently. Yo Yo is there for only a few sequences but handles them well carrying his own carefree persona as it is. Irrfan Khan plays a cameo of just two scenes and the leading ladies, Zoya Afroz & Sonali Raut strongly display their confidence in some good skin show. Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (the director) is fine playing the director in the film too. Nakul Vaid, Ashin Dhir play it well, whereas Adil Hussain, Rajesh Sharma & Jessy Randhawaremain wasted.

In short THE XPOSE performs pretty badly as a murder mystery and can appeal only to the viewers who can easily relate with all the realistic events of the decades before the 90s as given below.

1. Himesh plays the famous actors RAAJ KUMAR, who was in reality a police office before joining the films, as shown in THE XPOSE too.

2. It has a scene between Himesh & Nakul, which reportedly took place between Rajkumar & Govinda in probably JUNG BAAZ released in 1989.

3. Sunil Dutt actually saved Nargis from the fire at a set and the instance is incorporated in a similar sequence here in THE XPOSE.

4. One can see Parveen Babi emerging from the sea line, like the Bond Girl, played by Zoya Afroz in the film.

5. You can easily recall Zeenat Aman in a transparent white saree, praying in a temple in Raj Kapoor's SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM (1978), played by Sonali Raut in the film.

6. It depicts the era when there were no personal vanity vans for the artists to vanish into. And everyone had to sit in the open under the big umbrellas surrounded by their personal staff.

7. The time period when the main magazine was FILMFARE and the whole gossip trend was started by STARDUST in the 70s (with a famous woman editor).

8. A sequence relives the scenario when the competitors used to buy tickets in advance only to sell them at a lower price through the black marketers, as a clever strategy to sabotage a potential film of the opponent released on the same day.

9. The era of long cars, the Impalas.

10. Two fictitious titles used in the film are 'Ujwal Nirmal Sheetal' and 'Reena Mera Naam' hinting towards SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM & JOHNY MERA NAAM clearly.

11. A detailed sequence in the second half, indicates towards the death of Meena Kumari just after the release of PAKEEZAH turning it into a late HIT. The makers here show that the director of the film records a fake message in the voice of his dead heroine by a dubbing artist and uses that message to bring back the audiences in the theaters. However whether this was actually done or not, cannot be said.

12. Irrfan Khan in his special appearance plays Alec D'Costa, a black marketer showcasing the truth that in those times, selling tickets in black was such a huge business that people used to make big houses out of it. Plus it was these "Blackiyas" only who were used by one producer against the other for sabotaging a particular film.

Now reading the above references, you can sure enjoy the film more, recalling each and every incident as they come on the screen. But in case you are just interested in watching a thrilling murder mystery using your grey cells, then watch Vidhu Vinod Chopra's KHAMOSH (1985) instead. Because in THE XPOSE it seems the makers were more interested in the controversies than the murder mystery.

The perfect whodunit is one which has you biting your nails in anticipation and trying to figure who the culprit is and all the while trying to spot the red herrings and being fooled by the author (in case of a book) into suspecting the wrong guy or gal. XPOSE looks like it has been written by someone (Himesh Reshmaiya to be precise) who thinks of a premise and then does not know how to end it and like a kindergarten kid with his mouth full of cookies trying putting the blame on some one in the last minute-Like the butler did it.

The good thing going for this movie is the 60's campy style and music of the bygone era and the larger than life personalities that stars had which made them believe that they were gods and goddesses.

The movie starts with a caption claiming that the incidents shown are based on facts,and this is where we start guessing who's who.

The movie focuses on a the rise of two starlets Zara (Sonali Raut) clearly inspired by Zeenath Aman and Chandini (Zoya Afroz), based on Parveen Babi –though neither of them belonged to the 60's. Zara has no qualms of reaching the top, she is prepared to sleep her way to the top and Chandini is miss goody shoes who prefers to remain a virgin and spites quite a few makers.

Both the girls land in two controversial films, Zara is offered UJWAL NIRMAL SHEETAL (only a blind man can miss the obvious reference to Satyam Shivam Sundaram) which also marks the Hindi debut of South Super Star Ravi Kumar (Himesh Reshmaiya) a character based on Rajinikanth (again not a 60;s star) but reminds you mostly of Rajkumar and Sunil Dutt. Chandini decides to expose to spite her boyfriend and stars in a movie titled "REENA MERA NAAM" (could be Chetna which starred Rehana Sultana).

Both movies release on the same day, UNS flops and RMN becomes a hit, but Zara bags the filmfare award for UNS and she is promptly thrown off a roof of hotel to her death on the same night.

Chandini and Zara have a cat fight over Ravi kumar on the same day and Chandini's boyfriend becomes an obvious suspect and is nailed.

Ravi Kumar who is obviously in love with Chandini decides to save his beloved's love and unravels the mystery before a dumb judge interrupting the court proceedings.

Himesh Reshmaiya is outstanding (I thought I never would be able to say this) as Ravi Kumar, his mannerisms and dialogues are to a T. He pokes fun at himself in a matter of fact way and elevates the thick headed character and half way through the film we can actually see who the character is based on.

Zoya Afroz has those innocent bubbly looks of Poonam Dhillion (and her acting skills as well) looks good in the bikini act, and that's where we can stop the praise.

The scene stealer is Sonali Raut in her see through Sari and venom spitting performance as Zoya. She plays the bad act well and is the only one with the best lines apart from Himesh Reshmaiya.

Yo Yo Honey Singh has very little to do as a Music Director KD (obviously referencing RD Burman), but does have resembling character traits of Kishore Kumar too, He sleepwalks through the film. What the hell was Irrfan Khan doing in this? Don't ask, possibly even he does'nt know the answer.

Music by Himesh Reshamaya is good-fitting the 60's like a glove, but the ice cream song seems to have been heavily borrowed from Micheal Jackson's Bad. Overlook that fact and you have a movie with good foot tapping music.

Screenplay is tight but fades out towards the end, but Ananth Mahadevan's direction ensures that there is not a single dull moment in the film, though you are disappointed by the way the movie ends, you thank your stars that at least it did not bore you to death.

Go for it if you love 60's style foot tappers and have nothing else to do.

'The Xpose', a musical-thriller, isn't without merit, but unfortunately, there isn't much of it either. Its works, but only in parts. It has a few absorbing moments & melodious moments working on its side, but an erratic Screenplay, spoils the fun, in totality.

'The Xpose' Synopsis: A top actress from the late 1960's is killed & now follows the search to find her murderer.

'The Xpose' takes us back in time, the late 60's, where glamour & ambitious, like decade, was at its peak. So in terms of nostalgia, 'The Xpose' is good-looking. But, the Screenplay is erratic & shaky. The film begins well & the narrative is nicely handled up-to interval. Its the second-hour, that disheartens. The suspense element lacks the fizz & so does the murderer's motives. In short, the film takes off safely, but loses focus later-on.

Anant Mahadevan's Direction is strictly okay. Cinematography & Editing are impressive. Art Design is excellent. The re-creation of the late 60's has been put-up, wonderfully. Music by Himesh Reshammiya is melodious.

Performance-Wise: Himesh Reshammiya is alright. Although he has shed a lot of weight & has worked on himself, he can still work on his acting skills. Yo Yo Honey Singh, cast in a negative role, has his moments. Zoya Afroz looks gorgeous & delivers a very confident performance. Sonali Raut has also done well. Anant Mahadevan is stiff. Rajesh Sharma is superb, as always. Irrfan Khan appears in a tiny cameo.

On the whole, 'The Xpose' holds limited appeal.

Some films come with big hype, months of promotions, and after watching the film the audience might feel 'was it worth the hype?'. Then there are some films which are decently promoted and well made, but straightaway rejected by the audience even without watching it! And at a later point of time when they get a chance to watch the movie, they may say 'arre, yeh film toh theek tha (hey, this film was alright!). The Xpose, unfortunately falls to the second category.

My friends laughed at me when I told them that I am gonna watch a Himesh Reshammiya flick, that too in theater! Well, this is not the first time they laugh at me, I have faced it before also. As a movie lover, I support people who work hard, and put in their efforts to make the best. This guy has worked real hard and shredded approx. 20kgs for this film, and he looks good! Also, the music seems nice, the film is rumored to be based on the dirty games in Bollywood during late 60s, and the director is a National Award winning man! I think these are enough reasons to watch this movie.

The film, promoted as a murder mystery, rather is more of a drama than a thriller. Yes, there are a few thrills but eventually it falls into the drama genre. It has its well-developed characters, the emotions and the dirty tricks human minds play to keep themselves safe. As mentioned earlier, the film is set in late 1960s and is all about the glamorous and larger-than life era. An era which showcased the other side of Indian women, who were otherwise portrayed as the usual traditional family girls. As the film unfolds, we are introduced to a world where actresses fight, heroes travel in Impalas, and speak daring one-liners frequently. Love at first sight happens, and hatred too, very often! The film is shot well, despite of its tight budget, and the songs are placed at the right place. The direction is good and he ensures that the audience who comes out the hall are not disappointed. The mystery-revealing portions were, however kinda loose and appeared to be wrapped up very quickly. Had the writers added 10-15 more minutes of investigation stuff to the film, it would have become one of the finest thrillers Bollywood has ever produced! Nevertheless, the film is good and has its moments.

But then, its a Himesh Reshammiya movie na, who will watch it in theater! Who can sit through his bad acting? Trust me, once the movie starts reeling, you will be shocked to see an unexpected good performance from him! Yes, he has put his complete effort to live up to the character. His one-liners have an extra-punch! His never-give up attitude ensures that he is here to stay. The débutant Yo Yo Honey Singh has done a decent job, and the rest of the cast enacted their characters convincingly. Special mention to the beautiful and hot lady Sonali Raut. She was awesome. The narration by the talented Irrfan Khan was another plus point.

Overall, Xpose is a good watch and an ernest attempt from the makers. Watch it, and explore the dark secrets behind the bollywood of 1960s. Thumbs up for this one!

Don't trust those reviews with 1/10 rating. They are just jealous of Himesh's success. Also don't trust those 10/10 ratings. Those guys are just die hard fans of Himesh. The film was actually not great, neither bad. It was above average. Story-4/5 Direction-4/5 Acting-3.5/5 Songs-5/5(Himesh is the music director. So songs will obviously be good.) Dialogues-5/5(They were actually good) One thing I didn't like was that acting was a bit abrupt. The film could be extended a bit. They should have shown some investigations. My final verdict - 3.5/5 Would love to watch the sequel though.