BAAZ

Director: Tinu Verma
Producer: Tinu Verma
Music: Ismail Darbar
Lyrics: Mehboob
Starring: Karisma Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty and Dino Morea

RS RATING: 1/10

Kapishek Films Pvt. Ltd.'s Baaz - A Bird In Danger (UA) is the story of a person in Nainital, who is a compulsive killer of beautiful girls. He leaves no clue behind and, therefore, the people of Nainital are as bewildered by his acts as the police. Beautiful Neha (Karisma Kapoor), an interior designer, is hired by Nainital mayor Dabral (Jackie Shroff) to beautify his old bungalow in Nainital. She finds herself falling prey to the evil designs of the compulsive murderer but is not aware who he is. It could be the mayor, her neighbour Raj (Dino Morea) or the police officer, Harshvardhan (Sunil Shetty). Neha, alongwith the help of the other two guys, succeeds in finally exposing the killer.

A story (Shyam K. Goel), fairly different from the routine, has been mauled by a screenplay (Shyam K. Goel) that confuses the viewer in a bid to create suspense. Still, the thrill and chill of a suspense drama are missing for the major part. The confusion about the identity of the killer has been created for the audience and looks contrived at many places. The pace of the drama is slow, especially in the first half. Dialogues (Sanjay Masoom) are commonplace.

The climax is too long drawn-out and begins to bore after a while. The computer graphics in the scene showing Neha falling off the ropeway are shoddy and rob a potentially exciting scene of almost all the excitement. Why points such as Dabral being the mayor and Harshvardhan being a police officer are kept secrets for several reels is just not explained. Perhaps, what the writer thought was that since the film is a suspense drama, there must be elements of suspense, whether or not they are needed and irrespective of whether they contribute anything at all to the drama.

Why Raj is avoided by all the girls of Nainital is also not explained. It is the police who suspects him of being the killer, not the general public of Nainital. And if the writer would have us believe that the public too thinks so, why doesn't the same public lynch him rather than merely avoiding to cross his path? One is talking about a very potent public which torches cars and creates mayhem when the court acquits an accused whom the public assumes to be guilty!

Jackie Shroff does an average job. He hardly gets any scope to act in a role that is insipid. Sunil Shetty is fairly good. He breathes fire in action sequences. Dino Morea shows a lot of improvement over his past films. He looks good and acts well. Karisma Kapoor is the life of the film. Looking pretty as ever, she does a truly creditable job and excels in dramatic scenes. Preeti Jhangiani is quite good. Aditi Gowitrikar, Suhasini Mulay, Vivek Shauq, Razak Khan, master Kashish, Suresh Bhagwat, Pushpa Verma and the other artistes lend ordinary support.

Tinnu Verma's direction is okay but he has not been able to infuse the element of fear for the viewers. Action scenes, which are his forte, are well-composed. Music (Ismail Darbar) is good but the flavour of the songs does not go with the genre of the film at all. 'Jala koi' and 'Ae subah' are well-tuned numbers. 'Chehre pe' is quite good. Song picturisations (except 'Jala koi') are ordinary. Camerawork (Raju Kaygee) and other technical values are alright. Editing (Keshav Naidu) should've been far more sharp.

On the whole, Baaz - A Bird In Danger bores more than thrills. Having taken a dull start, it will endanger the bank balance of its distributors.

REVIEWED BY KOMAL NAHTA