Disturbing yet enthralling

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It was a treat to me as far as the concept story and direction was concerned.. Although i doesn't support the songs in between the movie(dancing and all stuff) but the songs were used intelligently without actually wasting any time... Saif's acting was amazing...kareena also have done justice to her role... the only problem its having is the length...157 mins is hell lot of a time(but common for a Bollywood movie though) Its a nice Action Thriller which kept me busy during the whole time...I usually didn't write reviews here but the other negative reviews made me do so... c'mon guys...it was a positive attempt to make a bond like(spy) movie in Bollywood and it did justice...i think it didn't get the response which it should have gotten actually..

Saif and Kareena first starred together in LOC(2003) followed by OMKARA and then post their relationship in TASHAN, KURBAAN and AV. Most of this films flopped terribly and proves yet again that what seems hot on newspaper may not make a hit film.Back to the movieThe film tries hard to be a Bond wannabe film but ends up being a hotshpotch. One reason many people awaited the film was because of the director Sriram Raghavan, who directed EK HASEENA THI(2004) which made people notice Saif in diverse roles and then JOHNY GADDAR(2007) which was a decent tribute cum thriller, both fared badly at the BOThis time he seems confused to make a bond film, to make a tribute film, to make a romantic thriller, to make a suspense thriller and he packs it all and makes a mess.The film starts off well, Ravi Kissen's character, Saif's intro and then his scenes with P Chopra and Kareena are well handled but Prem Chopra comes across as a joker more then menacing, similar to JG we have his old pictures hanging on the wallThe thriller element does hold you at times with some jolts but mostly it's a long drawn bond wannabe film with some clever twists and some good tributes all botched up.There are too many change of locales and introduction of new characters which gets annoying and confusing by the end. Kareena's character comes across as funny as being a Bond gal she doesn't do any stunts or any gun shooting leaving it all to her hero.The single take RAABTA song is well placed but looks comical and the film does hold you towards the end but the climax is tad too filmyDirection is decent, but the writing is a spoilt sport. Dialogues are superb Music by Pritam is superb, but most songs seem forcedSaif Ali Khan suits the role and does his part with his usual charm and charisma Kareena too does her role well Amongst the huge cast Ravi Kissan is okay in a short cameo, Prem Chopra is laughable with his weird wig and beard. Gulshan Grover does nothing in a cameo Shahbaaz Khan is good in his role Ram Kapoor is comical in a cameo, Adil Hussain does well as a villain while newcomer Anshuman Singh is good BP Singh(director of CID) leaves an impact surprisingly, In EKT Aditya Shrivastav ,while JG we had Daya and Ashwini here we have CID director himself, seems like Sriram is bringing all CID gang in his films

Movie devoid the music is very good... Saif Ali Khan is a very talented actor and he has again proved that here... Though he is the "lesser" Khan of the industry, he has come up with an excellent performance here... I think that the movie still lacked some "big" names!!! Might have been a reason for its not so great performance, a part from the disastrously "composed" (read copied) music!!!No idea why people say that the music is good, it is good only because the original tracks were good!!! The worst plagiarism ever!!! It seems as if the music director Pritam Chakraborty had absolutely no shame!!! Any kindergarten child will say that all he can do is COPY!!! A shame for any musician, that is Pritam Chakraborty for you!!!That said, the movie is actually very good... The music in every bit was stolen and that is very evident not just in songs, but between the movie as well... One major reason I am for sure that the movie as a whole is a failure is because they had a stolen array of music which by itself was successful because the originals of the music were successful...Absolute shame on you Pritam!!! You should be banned from making music for ever!!!

Despite having found the 2009 teaming of real life Bollywood power couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the terrorist Thriller Drama Kurbaan to be a paring that killed off any promise that the paternally exciting screenplay had to offer.I decided,that since having heard the this film was a "dream project" for Saif,and that it was being directed by the man behind the highly praised Film Noir Johnny Gaddaar,I felt the there was a good chance that this Bollywood " Masala" 007 style film would offer some terrific thrills and a gripping,undercover spy storyline. The plot:After having escaped from a Taiban camp in Afghanistan,RAW (Indian secret service) Agent Vinod heads back to his headquarters in India,where he is told that his next mission is to find a man who murdered a fellow RAW agent in Russia,and who also has a scorpion tattoo and has some strange connection with the number "242".Rushing round in Russia,Vinold eventually finds out that a man called Freddie Khambatta is meant to be delivering 50 million to a powerful Mafia boss in Morocco.Relaxing on his flight to Morocco,Vinod is left dumbfounded,when he discovers that Freddie Khambatta is working as a stewardess on this very flight!.Using his charms to win the trust of Khambatta,Vinod sneakily decides to take Freddie's identity,so that he can meet the cities local Mafia boss:David Kazan.Initially being terrified of Kazan sniffing out his cover,Vinod is almost caught out when Kazan's personal doctor, called Ruby Mendes (who actually works for the Pakistan secret service ISL),injects Vinod with some chemicals that force him to give all the real details.Realiseing that his life is hanging by a thread,Vinod quickly shows all the stolen document proof the he can get his hands on,to prove that he really is Freddie Khambatta.With showing good imitative and also having a huge amount of luck,Kazan falls for his alibi and begins to show Vinod the "explosive" secret behind the number 242.View on the film:Looking at the main performances in this film,I was extremely disappointed to discover that despite filling dozens of magazines with their real life romance,Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor leave any signs of a sizzling chemistry completely off the screen,with the dozens of scenes that they both share lacking any sense of a "spark".Whilst the film was pacifically tailor made for him,Khan sadly gives a very wooden performance as Vinod,with the scenes of the agent risking his life to find out the truth behind "242" lacking any feeling from Saif of excitement or intense fear of being Vinod's cover being blown at any given moment.Although Manish Malhotra's excellent costume design allows Kapoor to wear some eye-catching costumes,her flat performance sadly stops any of Ruby's fun flirtyness or paternally thrilling espionage skills to fully blossom in the film.Despite the two lead performances not having a strong,confident presence which is usually expected in epic Spy films,Prem Chopra shows that he can steel the film from right under everyone's noses.For his performance as Kazan,Chopra cleverly mixes the characters ruthlessness (such as killing his own, beloved camel!) with a strong comedic side that helps to light every scene that he features in,with the scenes of him attempting to develop a "closeness" with Ruby being a particularly hilarious highlight.Using the "242" mystery as a Hitchcock style mcguffin for the film,writer/director Siram Raghavan at first shows signs that he is impressively going to mix James Bond style action with a Hitchcock Thriller edge.Sadly as the film plods along on its overstretched 2 and a half hour running time Raghavan gradually starts to show a clear lack of focus,as the initially intriguing mystery Thriller side disappointingly becomes a tangled mess,as Raghavan seems to spend more time focused on changing the films location every 5 minutes then he does from stopping the mystery side of the film from ending up as a flat-line.Despite the action scenes weirdly only being in short bursts ,Siram uses the scenes to put his fantastic,stylish directing on full display,with a mesmerising,uninterrupted 3 and a half minute,one shot shoot out scene displaying the excitement and stylishness which should have been featured in the whole film.