Earlier
in the film; when being questioned by a sluggish, lethargically slow-spoken cop
played by the theatrical Makrand Deshpande, Naseeruddin Shah is seen with the
name of Ram Gopal Varma on the board in the backdrop, I sink in my deep
confusion if that was done in good gesture to show a great respect to the
filmmaker or it was just a pun intended because this baffling camel sits
neither of the sides.
The
comedy con thriller ‘JACKPOT’ marks a long-awaited comeback of Kaizad Gustad- a
filmmaker who, despite giving ‘Dud of the Decade’ BOOM, had shown great
promises as a new-wave filmmaker [of then, at least] with his violently witty
BOMBAY BOYS well before the ‘Anurag Kashyap Phenomenon’ came in to the scene.
Sadly, JACKPOT disappoints at all fronts. It misses the magical touch of Gustad
that used to bring the underworld in light in the most ‘unexplored before’
maniac manner. It also fails to impress with an amateurish approach in
film-making.
Set
in the mysteriously drugged nature of Goa, 4 con artists [Sachin Joshi &
Sunny Leone plays two of them] induce a 250 Cr land-deal to the owner of the
biggest casino in the city [played by Naseeruddin Shah in his weirdly ‘rope
like hair strings’ getup] but in order to get things in process, they also must
win the yearly poker game of 5 Cr Jackpot organized on Shah’s cruiser. They get
succeeded but not the way it was planned. Now, the jackpot money is missing and
everyone involved believes others are done with it. Does it not sound familiar with
most of the con films? Well, even that can be overlooked if the screenplay
takes the lead and provides breathtaking twists and turns to let loose your
thinking horses all the time.
In
the countable-on-fingers merits if I think hard, there is an impressive opening
credits inspired by 007 Bond movie title sequences. Though it creates only some
false conjecture to what it may come to you in next 90 minutes, it is a
well-thought, nicely done part. I also can not agree more on that the duration
was defiantly a big & decisive pro for me. Cinematography is strictly ok. Some
one-liners are witty and remind you of the Kaizad Gustad of late 90’s but I
don’t see reasons for what songs were doing in the midst of this entire
supposedly crisp thriller.
For
the performances, I would say you are looking for wrong thing at the wrong
place. Sachin Joshi is probably the worst looking hero in recent times. He
impressed most with his action sequences in AZAAN but here he depresses
everyone with his unkempt, messy look and equally bad dialogue delivery [He
doesn’t even bother to lip-sync the song he’s performing in]. And to top it
all, he is the one who narrates the story for the most part. God bless the
viewers! Sunny Leone doesn’t disappoint much as she does what she does best…and
I am not talking about acting. Naseeruddin Shah repeats himself. We have seen
him before in such avatar. Why he needs to opt for such scripts is
unconvincing.
Overall;
if this is the comeback, I would like to see Gustad resting in peace wherever
he was till now. This JACKPOT makes you feel loser at the end and is something
that no one wants to win. Boredom is what you get out of this poker faced
entertainment! [.5/5]
No comments:
Post a Comment