Sau Sau mausam leta hai
har paudha banane ko tree

How weird but true writing. It takes a lot for a writer/director to mature and deliver a movie that works! The latest flick, 123 (OneTwoThree) proves that again. Ashwini Dheer who is wellknown for his best comic teleseries “Office Office” debutes as director for this feature film. Let’s see how he fairs.

Speaking of the script, the screenplay based on a small story line which is stretched to feature length. Its about a diamond which is being transported from pondicherry to bombay. But the goon’s man is killed by two underworld people from Pondicherry. The man runs after he is shot, and before the death, he gives the diamond to Upen Patel and Tanisha who put it in petrol tank of the vintage car they are driving. They both work as salesman at a vintage car showroom run by Sameera Reddy.

Sameera is in trouble for her loan nonrepayment and desperately needs money. She is informed by Mr peepat from Bombay that his right hand man will come and purchase that car for 10L. Name of that man will be Laxminagarayan (1) played by Suniel Shetty. Sunil Shetty is over efficient employee who has habit of “bal ki khaal nikalna” and keeps asking irritating questions. Sunil is informed that he will be staying at blue diamond hotel and he will get details in an envelop about whom to meet with photo of that person.

In same hotel, another Laxminarayan (2) played by Tushar Kapoor is in another room. He is an apiring shooter who desperately wants to make “career” in underworld. He is there by the order of the Mumbai don to kill the Pondicherry goon and get back the diamond. He is also instructed that he will get envelop with photo of the goon to be killed.

In same hotel, another Laxminarayan (3), a role esseyed by Paresh Rawal is there. He has a undergarment store which he runs in a car in Chandani Chauk of Delhi. His business has grown and he now owns a factory of undergarments. His son wants to take the business to another level and sends him to Pondecherry to meet a lingerie designer (Esha Deol). Apperently he is also supposed to get information about whom to meet in an envelop at the hotel reception.

Now as u may have guessed, this comedy of error happens due to exchange of the envelops. The wanna be shooter gets the photo and address of lingerie designer. The undergarment seller gets details of the vintage car dealer. And Suneil Shetty gets information about the Pondy Goon.

Now how everyone gets in trouble and gets out of it and what happens at the end could have been a fun to watch movie. But somehow this movie fails in that. However the last 10-15 mins of the movie are good laugh.

The story is small, screenplay is weak. Direction is OK. Dialogs however are funny. Ashwini Dheer excels in dialogs. Some events in the movie are cheesy. At the movie start, the shoot is blurred we dont know why a reshoot is not done. Because afterall it did not include any set and busy stars.

Performancewise Suniel Shetty is true to his character and delivers sincere performance however his left right questions irritates later due to repetitiveness. Paresh Rawal is as usual. Tushar Kapoor is ok. Sameera Reddy is good. Tanisha is cheap. Upen Patel and Tanisha are invisible in movie means they don’t have even few mins on screen. Upen does not even try to perform in whatever time he has got. Esha Deol is so thin that she looks anorexic model. Performance wise she does not impress. All ther actors do their job perfectly.

Cinematography is ok. Production values are average. Postproduction is good but the computer generated effects are visible so are not perfect to be seemless. Background Score is interesting. The song 123 is already popular on charts. Other songs are strictly ok. But I think the only person to get benefitted by this movie is music director Raghav Sachar.

Le’ts see how this movie does on the BR Meter:

BR Rating: *&1/2
BR Verdict: Below Average
BR Recommendations: Watch it only if u have nothing else to do.

The movie is housefull from the morning shos in multiplexes. No tickets are available at the booking counter. This shows the hype surrounded around “Race”. The are festivities around with long extended weekend. The hype is working its magic and opening is fabulous. Why there shall not be hype? It has gorgeous babes, hot male actors, foot tapping music, slick promos and the name promises an edge of the seat thriller. Apart from that its from thriller expert Abbas-Mustan. What if their last 2 movies failed due to week scripts….. the duo still commend a lot of cradibility for their entertaining thrillers like Gupt, Ajnabi, Soldier, etc. But can they spell their magic on the silverscreen this time? Does the film work?

And the good news is…..

YES! It works BIG TIME!

I wont dwelve into the story too much as its a suspense thriller and I won’t play spoil sport by revealling too much about the plot. I will give u a short brief to increase your curiosity about the movie. The movie is about 2 brothers and their girl friends (wives?). Ranveer (Saif Ali Khan) is a stylish businessman who is into business of horse racing. He has a stud farm and raunch house and all the luxuries money can buy. Apart from that he likes living on the edge and is big time into adventure sports. He loves his horses and his young brother Rajiv (Akshaye Khanna) and takes care of them a lot. Rajiv on the other hand is a alcoholic who keeps drinking all the time. Sophia (Katrina Kaif) is Ranveer’s secretary and right hand. Ranveer depend a lot on her for his office work. She secretely loves him but he does not understand that. He in turn loves a hot model Sonia (Bipasha Basu). At a party, Ranveer introduces Sonia to Rajiv and Rajiv falls in love with Sonia.

What happes next? Will Ranveer sacrifice his love for Rajiv or viceversa? Or will there be race between them to get their love? Is the movie all about this love or money? Watch it to get these answers. I promise, you will have good time.

Its a taught thriller and everything about the movie works great. The narration is brisk, the script is tight, the screenplay (Shiraz Ahmed) is lightening fast, engaging and entertaining.

Abbas-Mustan’s direction is crisp, sharp and keeps audience totally glued to their seats and eyes on the screen. There is not a single moment which is dull or feels like seen before. Thats the most commendable part of the movie that it has surprises every nook and corner of the story and your brains keeps overworking on the guessing part for whats next. However, the writer-directors are successfull in shocking you everytime. The only track left unused is that of Ranveer’s rival. It could have been used to add more suspense angle to the movie.

The cinematography (Ravi Yadav) is breathtaking from the opening shot of the movie. The heavenly locations of Durban, Dubai and India are beautifully picturised. The action sequences mind blowing (the accident shot, the car chase, etc). Editing (Hussain Burmawala) needs applause as its the ingredient which makes thrillers work.

Music (Pritam) of the movie is already hit. 3 songs are block busters. ‘Allah Duhai Hai’, ‘Touch Me’ are rocking and ‘Pehli Nazar Mein’ by Atif Aslam mesmerizes you. The choreography (Bosco-Caesar and Ganesh Acharya) is good and song picturization is apt. Background music (Salim-Sulaiman) is perfect.

Special mention shall be given to the dialog writer (Anuraag Prapanna, Jitendra Parmar) who makes the movie more enjoyable. The dialogs are funny, raunchy and edgy whereever required. Styling (Anaita Shroff Adajania) made the movie promos interesting and makes the movie what it is…. stylish, sleek thriller.

All these departments needed mention because they are outstanding in this movie. However, the last but not the least department of performances is a big plus point. Abbas-Mustan are successfull in extracting the best performance from every actor/actress/performer.

The best of the lot is Anil Kapoor. He time and again amuses us with his energy, comic timing, impressive body language. He essays role of the investigation officer and he does it the Karamchand way. Only instead of Gajar, he keeps eating different fruits in every scene. He also have a dumb secretary (Sameera Reddy) like Karamchand does. Anil Kapoor is the comic relief in this movie.

Saif Ali Khan impresses you by his style, acting and action. He looks hot and fits the role to the T. He looks the winner he is. Akshaye Khanna does the role of brat drunken brother with aplomb and makes you hate him for what he is on screen.

On the fair side, the females add the required jazz to this movie. Bipasha looks hot and does her role perfectly. Katrina Kaif looks gorgeous and acts well too.

So on the whole, this is more than value for the ticket money and you can buy lots of popcorns, coldrinks and still it will be more value for money.

BR Rating: **** (that’s 4 stars after so long)
BR Verdict: VERY GOOD!
BR Recommendations: Go watch it again and again with as many people as you can. It’s SUPER HIT!