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AETBAAR - (Reviewed By Yashdeep Patil)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, John Abraham, Supriya Pilgaonkar
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Producer: Mandeep Singh for Cutting Edge Entertainment
Story: Vikram Bhatt, Robin Bhatt
Screenplay: Robin Bhatt, Sanjeev Duggal
Music: Rajesh Roshan
Cinematography: Pravin Bhatt
Editor: Kuldeep Mehan

RATING: 6/10

Introduction
The promos seem to suggest a distinct liftoff from the Mark Wahlberg - Reese Witherspoon thriller "Fear". And moreover to helm it we have the avid DVD director (he self-admittedly gets the latest Hollywood movies on a DVD and tries to copy them for movies of his own). With such a background, I certainly had a bias against this film before I went for it

Synopsis
Dr. Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan as usual in a great performance) is a father who is very protective about his daughter Ria (Bipasha Basu). First the plot. It revolves around a small family of three with Amitabh (Dr Ranvir) as the head and Bipasha (Ria) as the doted upon daughter. She has been the apple of his eye, and he is extremely protective about her. She sees this as his over possessiveness. Trouble starts brewing when she meets Aryan (John Abraham), a wild and obsessive guy. She falls in love with him as he is everything that she wanted in a beau. He is unpredictable, intriguing and handsome.
John Abraham also acting as per his character falls obsessively in love with Bipasha. Amitabh gets alarmed when he gets to meet John. He is everything that he would have hated to have in a son-in-law. Brash and mysterious, Amitabh starts hating him and trying to convince Bipasha to rethink her choice. So starts a game of cat and mouse, when John realizes that Amitabh is trying to separate the two of them. The rest of the plot is about how Amitabh manages to uncover John's past, and convince Bipasha about the truth. Supriya Pilgaonkar also drops in as a prop as Amitabh's wife. Tom Alter as a doctor, Shruti Ulfat as a professor, Ali Asgar as a friend of Bipasha and Pramod Moutho as the Commissioner of Police also drop in to increase the head count.

Analysis
Amitabh as usual excels in his performance. He is the sole reason that one would be viewing this film. Let me clarify that I am no Bipasha fan, and I think she does her usual stuff quite well even in this movie. So if you have liked her earlier, you will like her in this. John Abraham is good. He has done so few films, yet he acts like a seasoned actor. The only problem is his sweaty and wild look throughout, which has been overdone to death in this one. Supriya and the others provide able support. Shruti is grating on the nerves.

Technique
Vikram Bhatt looks like he is going the Mahesh Bhatt way (directing films by the dozen, and not paying much attention to any of them.). He seems to be also doing with films what Anu Malik did with tunes (Anu Malik used the same lifted tunes in more movies than one (Macarena)). We recently got to see Vikram's "Inteha", which was also a lift off from "Fear". Some of the scenes are done well, but they are few and far in between. By the time the pace of the film starts moving, you feel you should have moved out of the theater. Music by Rajesh Roshan is hummable at times, but might not catch on pretty well. The story is attributed to Vikram Bhatt and Robin Bhatt, whereas it should have been attributed to Christopher Crowe (who wrote Fear"). Robin Bhatt and Sanjeev Duggal write the screenplay, and as usual for Robin's works , the pace varies according to his whims and fancies. Pravin Bhatt, as usual is good with the cinematography. The editor Kuldeep Mehan has shirked his work mostly.

Sidelights
1. Earlier the movie was spelled "Aitbaar", but after consultation with a numerologist was rechristened as "Aetbaar".

2. This was the first film that John had signed, but it was caught in a number of tangles, which delayed its release.

3. John's voice is dubbed in this movie, as is a usual Vikram Bhatt practice.

4. Earlier, the film was being produced by Jatin Kumar (son of yesteryear actor Sujit Kumar) who has produced movies like "Champion". He ran out of money, and Tata Infomedia's Cutting Edge entertainment stepped in.

5. Anil Kapoor was slated to play John's role earlier.

6. The Tatas sold off a controlling stake in Tata Infomedia (the producers of this movie) to ICICI ePayments Limited last September.

Verdict
Avoidable. Go for "Khakee" instead and you will get to see a quality product. This one has nothing but sheen going for it. Vikram Bhatt strictly needs to rethink his work schedule. Even if he says he is comfortable doing 4-5 films at a time, the audience is not satisfied with the end products. Amitabh lovers will anyway like it because of him, ditto for Bipasha fans. For the rest, there is nothing much going for it.

. Buy DVD - £8.99 - From RS Shop
. Buy CD - £3.99 - From RS Shop

RELEASE DATE: 23rd January 2004

REVIEWED BY YASHDEEP PATIL