RadioSargam.Com: The Complete Entertainment Portal

MOVIE REVIEWS

CHURA LIYAA HAI TUMNE - (Reviewed By Komal Nahta)

Director: Sangeeth Sivan
Producer: PFH Rave
Music: Himesh Reshmiya
Lyrics: Sudhakar Sharma, Jay Verma, Sanjay Chhel
Starring: Esha Deol and Zayed Khan

RATING: 1/10

PFH Rave's Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne (UA) is designed as a suspense thriller. But its making is so dull that while there is suspense, albeit weak, the thrill in the drama is conspicuous by its absence.

Rehash of the Hollywood film, Charade, it is about an Indian girl who has to fly to Bangkok urgently. Once there, she is shocked to learn that her only guardian - an old uncle - has been killed. The Thai police interrogates her about a Rs. 10 crore gold heist from the Reserve Bank of India, in which her uncle was involved three years ago. They want to know where the 10 crore was stacked. The rest of her uncle's gang, now freed from the Indian prison, is also on her trail in the belief that she has the money. The girl looks to her Indian boyfriend, who has followed her to Bangkok, for help. She doesn't know anything of the heist or about her uncle's activities and also nothing about the Rs. 10 crore.

There's also an official in the Indian embassy in Bangkok, Deepak Chopra, who is trying to help her. Ultimately, she realises that some of the people she is interacting with are not who they pose to be. She also lays her hands on the wealth left behind by her uncle and has to ensure that she returns the money, after which are the villains, to the Indian government. How she achieves her mission is what the climax is all about.

Weak characterisations mar the drama so terribly that there's just no excitement in it. The three villains look like caricatures because of which the fear element just doesn't come through. The suspense angle has been developed so weakly that it doesn't require even average intelligence to guess the ending. The murders of the villains one by one comprise another suspense track but this track hardly interests the viewer as the identity of the murderer is not shown to be important till the stage when it is finally revealed. That is to say, the audience gets to know that that was also the suspense angle in the film only when the suspense is revealed. This is a major mistake committed by the writers and director.

The heroine's past or her interaction with the uncle is simply not shown as a result of which the story looks incomplete. All in all, a fairly good story idea has been mauled by a weak screenplay (Venita Coelho) and weaker narration (Sangeeth Sivan). Dialogue (Vibha Singh and Sanjay Masoom) do precious little to elevate the insipid drama.

Zayed Khan makes a fair debut in the male lead. Among his plus points are his clear dialogue delivery, reasonably graceful dances and appealing action stunts. He, however, needs to take care of his looks in general and hairstyle and costumes in particular. Esha Deol is average. She looks slightly plump in many scenes. Gulshan Grover, Vijay Raaz (both with weird sidelocks) and Rakhi Sawant (exuding oomph) have been hopelessly wasted and deliver uninspired performances which test the viewers' patience. Salil Ankola is alright. Master Parth Dave is endearing and acts ably. Tanushree Kaushal, Rajesh Puri and the others pass muster.

Sangeeth Sivan's direction is uninspired as the thriller fails to involve the audience and doesn't even send a single chill down the spine. The pace of the drama, which should've been extremely fast, is slower than even normal. Himesh Reshammiya's music is the best thing about the film. All the songs are racy and youthful although song situations sometimes look contrived. 'Mohabbat hai mirchi', 'Boys are best', the title track and 'Don't you love me baby?' are the best numbers. Song picturisations don't match up to their music quality. Shirish Kunder's editing is average. Camerawork (T. Ramji) is alright. Background score should have been better. Production and other technical values are fair.

On the whole, Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne is a weak suspense drama but there's just no suspense about its box-office fate. A disaster.

RELEASE DATE: 21st March 2003

REVIEWED BY KOMAL NAHTA