Review Of Johnny Gaddaar

Overall Rating:****
Plot:****
Cast Performance:****
Sound Track:***
Cinematography:***

Well written and taut scripts are no longer occasional in Bollywood. The film industry has witnessed several well made films over the past two years. Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Khosla ka Ghosla, chak de India etc are good examples of that. But rarely have we seen an original out and out thriller from our makers. Johnny Gaddaar is a welcome change to that. And a pretty good one.

I had high expectations from it as soon as I came to know that the scriptwriter is Jaideep Sahni, the man behind Khosla ka Ghosla and Chak de India’s excellent screenplays. After watching the film, I can safely say he hasn’t let me down. Like typical Jaideep Sahni stuff, the film takes its own sweet time to build up and the makers don’t rush things. And once the mood sets in, its hard to divert your attention elsewhere when the proceedings become more and more tense with every passing scene.

It has its share of ultra tense moments, and unpredictable twists in the second half, and the climax ends up on an ironical note; given the film’s genre and its plot, yopu cant ask for a fitter finale.
As the name of the movie suggests, its the story of how the lead character of the film gets himself into a mess when he decides to run away with all the money which he and his four partners decide to invest. The total amount being 2 crore and 50 lakhs, each one has to have a share of 50 lakhs. Its when Johnny - in the desire of a better life with his girlfriend (who’s incidentally the wife of another member of the group) ruins things up when his plans go haywire with one single incident on a train.

The story is interesting enough to keep you guessing what will happen next, right till the end. Its not what you call a shocking thriller, but its written with intelligence and the climax is what you can call perfectly ironical.

Direction is tight and there’s an RGV touch to several scenes in the film. After an impressive debut with Ek Hasina thi, Sriram Raghavan goes one step ahead and delivers a rocking thriler.

All the actors are in good form. Neil Mukesh who makes his debut does a good job as a debutant, but still has a long way to go. Dharmendra is fantastic in a short role, and Vinay Pathak in a non comic role is very competitive. Govind Namdeo and Zakir Hussain perform brilliantly too. Rimi Sen doesn’t have a very strong role but you cannot ignore her character’s presence in the film. Anyways, she does a good job.

Overall, Johnny Gaddaar is a treat to fans of the thriller genre. Dont expect anything shocking though. Just expect a well made movie with good performances and you wont be dissapointed.