Kaminey - Review

The most awaited movie of recent times finally hits the screens today, but does it live up to the hype; well almost....

Kaminey is the story of twin brothers Charlie & Guddu (Shahid Kapoor), who are absolutely different from each other. One stammers, the other lisps, one is a crook, the other a simpleton.
Charlie wants to become a successful bookie, fixing horse races & needs money to do so;
Guddu is in love with Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) & they plan to tie the knot, when one rainy day, their lives change.

Their lives get entangled with that off drug smuggling gangsters, corrupt policemen & a local political aspirant Bhope Bhau (Amole Gupte).
The backdrop of this film is greed & how it drives everyone to forget old relationships and forge new ones.
All the characters are after a "guitar", one which contains something of great value to all. I would not give away much of the story, but add that the film takes some twists & the web becomes more complex.

The film is dark, gritty & something unlike most Bollywood films. The filmmaker definitely wants the viewer to think & concentrate.
The first half of the film moves past swiftly & leaves the viewers wanting to see what happens next. The second half is a bit laborious & makes the narrative a little complex. Towards the end of the film, the average viewer might find the number of characters in play a bit too much to handle.

Of the actors, three need a mention, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chpora & Amole Gupte.
Shahid Kapoor does a great job in both the roles. He makes the characters very believable & fun to watch. Priyanka Chopra does a fabulous job as the Maharashtrian mulgi Sweety. She adds in a different flavour to the character & does full justice to it.
But the true find here is Amole Gupte. He delivers a knockout performance as the politico-in-waiting Bhope Bhau. He plays the role effortlessly & delivers dialogues with panache. He is definitely one to watch out for & one can see another director-actor in the making.

The camera work in the film is very different from what one might have ever seen, with a lot of handheld shots, quick jerks & movements & innovative lighting. While it makes for a fresh look to a film, it can also get a bit irritating at times.

Director/Music Director/Dialogue writer Vishal Bhardwaj definitely deserves an applaud for trying a different style of filmmaking. Dark & Gritty, this film is unlike the Hindi cinema one is used to, though on some level, it attempts to do too much.
A special mention be made for the action sequence in the finale, not for the action, but for the execution. With a song playing in the background, it makes for some very unique viewing.
Dhan Te Na is truly the highlight song of the film & is the soul of Kaminey.
Even though the film has so much going for it, the story pulls it down a notch, not making it Vishal Bhardwaj's best outing to date.

All in all, this film has some great performances & a unique style, but not the best storyline. It's dark, complex & definitely worth a watch. At the box office the film will do great, owing to the hype the promos have genereated.
So forget the flu & hit the theatres....for this one might just work for those with a taste for something different.

Critical: 3/5
Commercial: 4/5