Kaminey!

Frankly speaking, I was very skeptical to go and watch Kaminey. That is not because of the fact that swine flu is rampant around here. But purely because of the fear to be disproved. I like the film maker in Vishal Bhardwaj. I have watched all his movies from Maachis to Blue Umbrella and none of them only once. But all of the movies either were made to show cast a purpose or pure adaptation of world class stories (or should I say themes) in Maqbool and Omkara. I knew Kaminey is neither, none.

Another reason of my fear of disappointment was Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. I like bothof them. I feel they are very talented and genuine actors. I didn’t want their film to flop. But eventually I went ahead and watched the movie. Thank fully I was not disappointed. Kaminey is a very very generic story masterfully crafted into an intriuing piece of work. Although I think the comparison of Vishal to Quentin Tarantino or Ridley Scott is a bit hyped, primarily because Vishal Bhardwaj is a unique film maker. Matching Tarantino is a herculean task. I think Kaminey’s filming has a reminiscence of ‘The Departed’ by Martin Scorsese more than any one else. Anyway, Let us come to the movie now.

Kaminey is a story of two siamise twins Guddu and Charlie (played by Shahid). Both have a speech defect. Guddu stammers where as Charlie pronunces ‘S’ as ‘F’. Charlie is a small time goon who bets on horses, manipulates and earns his daily bread. He has a dream to achieve, to be a big time booker one day. One day he gets double crossed by his own jockey. In a bid to revenge, he lands up in a 5 star hotel to bash the conspirator. But time turns the tide and while running away from the opposition gang, he gets embroiled in a drug smuglling controversy involving a don and the corrupt narcotics department of the Police.

Guddu on the other hand is a ‘guy next door’ who works with an NGO, loves a ‘marathi mulgi’ Sweety (Priyanka) and hates his brother for all his bad deeds. The story book affair turns soar when sweety gets pregnant. They can get married and live happily ever after, except that Sweety is a sister of a goon turned ‘Marathi wadi’ wannabe politician Bhope Bhau (Amole Gupte). Now Bhope Bhau surely doesn’t like this and when learning that Guddu is from UP, wants to finish him off.

The happenings in 24 hrs from here on, the movie gathers unmatched speed. Charlie wants to sells the drugs so that he can start his bookie business. Bhope wants to kill Guddu and marry his sister to the builders son for party funds. Guddu wants Charlie to give the drugs to Bhope so that he gets his money for funding his election campaign and Guddu gets his girl. The narcotics department wants Charlie so that they can get hold of the drugs and deliver it to the Don ‘Tashi’. And Tashi wants to finish every one off, get the drugs, sell it to the Angolian gangster in exchange of the diamonds. Confused? He he…  🙂

This is what makes Vishal Bhardwaj a master film maker. Excellent narration, brilliant camera angles and deft editing makes Kaminey a wonderful treat to watch. I heard lot of people saying the movie could have been little less violent. But I think to make a movie of this genre, it has to be raw. The dark surroundings, back ground score and the crisp dialogues makes it even more appealing. No point in singling out one actor as every one have performed par excellence. Shahid and Priyanka’s chemistry is great (I so much wish if she could have been a marathi mulgi in reality). And the Industry might have got a new baddie in Amole Gupte.

Overall I will give a 3 and half stars to the movie. And this rating is purely on the basis of the way the movie is made. Had there been a brilliant story/ theme (a.k.a. Omkara), I’d have given 5 stars easily. Go and watch once if you haven’t and if you can tolerate raw action.