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BOOM - (Reviewed By Komal Nahta)

STARRING: Amitabh Bachcha, Gulshan Grover, Javed Jafferi, Jackie Shroff
DIRECTOR: Kaizad Gustad
PRODUCER: Quest Films

RATING: 1/10

Quest Films' Boom (A; dubbed; partly English) is a film with an apology of a story. Right from the word 'go', the aim of writer-director Kaizad Gustad seems to be to titillate the viewers even if that means including scenes bordering on semi-pornography. In their quest to cater to the baser instincts of the audience, the makers have thrown logic and seemingly their script too (if it existed in the first place!) out of the window. What then remains are scenes pieced together with either four-letter words, filthy and obscene actions/innuendoes or exposure of skin.

Three brothers (Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff and Gulshan Grover) belong to the underworld. They hatch a plot to smuggle priceless diamonds out of India to Dubai, using top models for the job, but their plan goes awry when one model, assisted by her two model-friends, picks up a fight with a co-model who trips the former on the ramp. In the ensuing scuffle, the model's hair opens up and hundreds of the diamonds which were to be smuggled out of the country, fall on the ramp.

In a free-for-all that follows, the celebrity guests and the paparazzi at the fashion show snatch the diamonds and flee the scene. The three brothers hold the model and her two friends responsible for the monumental loss. A cat-and-mouse game follows between the three models and the three dons. Ultimately, one group wins while the other loses.

The story is wafer-thin and the screenplay is horrendously bad. Except for vulgarity and obscenity, there's nothing that comes across on the screen. Although the masses would initially patronise the film which abounds in sex and perversion, even that won't last long because the story and screenplay hardly make sense. Another drawback is that there's just one song - even that comes at an inappropriate time.

It is actually shocking that top names of the film and fashion industries should have agreed to act in this semi-pornographic enterprise. Perhaps, anything for money was the mantra! Having said that, now to the performances.

Although Amitabh Bachchan does not have a running role, he does the fullest justice to it as usual. Jackie Shroff is also effective. Gulshan Grover acts ably. Jaaved Jafferi puts in a spirited performance and does evoke laughter with his accented Hindi and rather bold dialogue.

Madhu Sapre looks fair in some scenes but way below the mark in others. She does an average job but exudes a lot of oomph. Padma Lakshmi is also just fair. She too adds tremendous sex appeal. Katrina Kaif looks pretty and completes the sex-and-skin troika. The three play semi-nude models. Seema Biswas is very natural. Zeenat Aman lends grace. Bo Derek has been hopelessly wasted. Aditya Lakhia and Boman Irani stand out from among the rest. Dress designers Wendell Rodricks, Tarun Tahiliani and Rohit Bal add to the star names but nobody will recognise them beyond five or six major cities.

If Kaizad Gustad's script is frighteningly terrible, his direction is no better. Gustad seems to be convinced that sex and vulgarity are enough to entertain the masses. They may be bait enough to lure the viewers into the cinemas initially but ultimately, even many among the masses and classes would feel repulsed and nauseated by the excessive projection of sex. They would be shocked by the participation of top names in the demeaning game of sex and exposure but being shocked is not the same thing as being entertained.

The dearth of songs is sorely felt in the film. Back-ground score (Sandeep Chowta) is effective. Camerawork (Himman Dhamija) is good. Production values are grand. It must be mentioned here that after what has been cleared by the CBFC in Boom, censorship for most Indian films becomes a farce! For, the censors have left precious little to the imagination, having passed scenes as well as dialogue hitherto considered objectionable. Dubbing is good.

On the whole, Boom relies too heavily on sex but sex doesn't always sell. The distributors of the film may not lose, thanks on the one hand, to the low prices they've paid for the film and on the other, to the good start it has taken. But the producer's loss would remain so because Boom will boomerang at the box-office after the initial hype is over.

The English version has opened simultaneously.

RELEASE DATE: 19th September 2003

REVIEWED BY KOMAL NAHTA