Cast: Rahul Khanna, Jimmy Shargill, Tanushree Datta, Sharman Joshi, Sherlyn Chopra
Director: Anurag Singh
Producer: Raj Kanwar
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Sameer
Cinematography: Fuwad Khan
Editor: Kuldeep Mehan
Raqeeb – Rivals in Love comes across as a suspense thriller and it is nice to see debutante director Anurag Singh coming up with a grasping tale, which manages to hold on to your nerves. The film stars Rahul Khanna, Sharman Joshi, Jimmy Shergill and Tanushree Dutta in important roles. This is also the first time when these three male stars are being paired with Tanushree Dutta. Except for ‘Jaane Kaise’ Pritam’s score is forgetful. The movie is part of the ‘2 hour’ show trend. Interestingly, Jimmy’s previous releases such as Eklavya – The Royal Guard, Delhii Heights were all 120 minutes movies.
The story of Raqeeb is multi dimentional. It has a lot of cross roads which eventually run parallel to each other. Jimmy Shergill claims that Raqeeb is a masala entertainer. The storyline is love, the causes and effects of it. The film moves at a moderate pace, keeping the thrills intact. The story of the film is clearly inspired from films like Fida and Humraaz, which are again inspired by Hollywood films like A Perfect Murder and Murder by Natural Causes respectively.
Remo Mathews (Rahul Khanna) is the hero of this thriller. He is a computer enthusiast and owns a software company. Remo is a lone man as his parents left the world when he was just a kid. Remo’s only friend is his employee, Siddharth (Sharman Joshi). Siddharth is a flirt and carries a lover boy’s image. One day Siddharth plays a prank and sets Remo up for a blind date.
Expectedly, after a few conversations and humourous misunderstandings, Remo falls for the girl, Sofie (Tanushree Dutta). Things go smoothly with the tunes of Pritam Chakraborty until history opens up. Sofie discovers that her parents too had died in the same car accident in which Remo’s parents were killed. Sofie feels that it is Remo’s parents who were responsible for the incident. Finally, after a series of melodrama, Remo proposes Sofie and they get married. Now, the story grips up and moves into a new dimension altogether.
Sofie had a past, Sunny (Jimmy Shergill). Sunny was completely in awe of Sofie but she rejected his proposal as he was not economically stable. Sunny comes back into Sofie’s life and the fire is ignited. This is the beginning of an affair until one day they decide to move a step further and kill Remo. They plan to hide Remo’s asthma medicines and shoot him with fake bullets to aggravate him. They expect the post mortem report to show that he died of natural asthma attack. But things don’t happen as they have to….because Sofie cheats SUNNY AND GETS HIM ARRESTED.
There are a lot of questions unanswered and lot of suspense created due to this act of Sofie.
Raqeeb has its own set of flaws, but it cannot be called off as poor cinema. It has the ingredients to entertain you and surprise you at the same time. The acting is a big plus of this film which covers up for the loose ends in the film.
The film manages to keep its viewers guessing and shocking with the dangerous games that are played by all the characters of the film. The climax is definitely disappointing and should have been well treated by the director-writer. Dialogues could have been better and more consistent in terms of quality.
Rahul Khanna effortlessly portrays the character of a refined business tycoon. Sharman Joshi creeps into your hearts with his performance. Jimmy Shergill attempts a role which draws negative feelings as well as sympathy from the viewers. Tanushree Dutta delivers an expressive performance. Only a better costume designer could have handled her clothes in a better way.
The film has got a low opening and its business is bound to be affected because of its low marketing and infamous musical score. I still recommend this movie to be watched without any high expectations and enjoy the thrilling moments it offers.
Radiosargam Movie Rating: 6/10
Hanumant Bhansali
|
