Review - Naqaab
13th July 2007 | posted in Hindi Movies, Reviews, meetu |Looks like youre new here. You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
| Rating: | Watch if you have nothing better to do |
Comedy or suspense thriller?
It is a shame that another brilliant concept has been flushed down the drain because of half-baked attempts at narrating and acting. The product comes across as tacky because of the constant shuffle between comedy, unintentional comedy, a few extra-predictable scenes, and unexpected plot twists.
As a movie buff I would watch this movie just for the creative concept. Unfortunately, however, it does not get support from any of the other departments. Also, it’s a shame that while the overall plot is imaginative, way too many individual scenes are so clichéd that you can say what’s going to happen next with your eyes, ears and brains shut.
As any thriller should, the movie moves at a remarkably fast pace and before you know it you are watching the interval previews. And thus no time is wasted on character development, detailing or consistency. Also the actors playing these characters don’t help the cause. Barring Akshaye Khanna, the rest of the ensemble either drone to make you sleep or shriek to wake you up. And it isn’t Akshaye’s best performance either. Part of the credit for lousy acting and characterization should also go to the ridiculous dialogues.
They seemed to have had a hard time trying to decide whether this should have been a comedy or a suspense thriller. I am willing to take a bet that it would have been a much better product if they had chosen one and just stuck by it. Mixing the two has done irreparable damage to it. Especially since the thrilling twists and turns, very unintentionally, make you laugh and the juvenile comedy makes you grit your teeth in anger. And the back and forth manipulations in the second half become a tad too exhausting for the viewer.
The saving grace is that the director of photography, the editor, and the sound designer have shown considerable restraint. Given the locales and the subject of the movie it was very easy to go overboard in these departments.
On the other hand, I seem to have run out of ways to complain about Sameer’s lyrics. And is it original music by Pritam this time? That could explain why it is worse than mediocre.
What I find most amazing about any work of art is the passion with which the artist creates it. In a movie it is more exciting because there are so many passionate people involved. But it is most unfortunate when almost everything
looks like a half-hearted attempt. What a waste of a clever idea because nobody felt the need to pay attention to the details!
Click here to read what I scribbled on my notepad while watching this movie (what worked and what didn’t for me). Might contain spoilers!
Click here to see what 11 other reviewers/viewers think. Average rating 0.7 / 5.0: 1 thumbs up, 1 so-so, 9 thumbs down.
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| Rating: | Watch if you have nothing better to do |
Detailed Ratings (out of 5):
posted on July 13th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
posted on July 13th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
posted on July 15th, 2007 at 4:08 am
posted on July 15th, 2007 at 5:17 am
posted on July 16th, 2007 at 11:19 am
posted on July 16th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
posted on July 31st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
posted on August 5th, 2007 at 8:24 am
posted on August 11th, 2007 at 9:46 am