Teen Patti - Review

Amitabh Bachchan
Sir Ben Kingsley
The game of probability
Teen Patti arrives amongst much publicity taking on the popular vice of gambling. Is this a wager worth betting on?
Sadly not.

NOTE: This review is for the English-Hindi version of the film which shall hit only 10% of the screens. Most cinema halls shall be screening the Hindi version.


The film works on the basic premise of the Hollywood flick "21" & adds a bit of desi tadka to it. Mathematical genius Venkat Subramaniam(Amitabh.B) is an Einstein like professor who formulates a new theory. He devises a way to use math to beat the game of Teen Patti. To prove his work, he uses the idea of co-professor Shantanu(Madhavan) & they rope in a few students to go beat the game in the underground gambling dens of Mumbai.
What follows is a ride of greed,power,betrayal & suspense, as one of them is a backstabber. The film also has Sir Ben Kingsley cast as Perci Trachtenberg, the math wizard, whom the story is being told to.

The first half of the film plays out very well, as it has its elements of fun, feel of local dens & the build-up of a good story. Unfortunately, the film completely falls apart in the second half. The movie is derailed as the script looses its sense. Logic goes for a toss & so does the audience.

The music by Salim-Sulieman is peppy & songs are well woven into the film. The cinematography Aseem Bajaj is very interesting in parts & good in general.

No guesses in the performances. Amitabh Bachchan towers above all as the quirky, math-obsessed intellect. Ben Kingsley too does a great job in his brief role. His scenes with AB are really good. Madhavan does justice to his role as well. The film marks the debut for 4 new actors. Dhruv Ganesh is superb and definitely one to watch out for. Shraddha Kapoor looks sweet but has a long way to go in the acting dept. Siddharth Kher & Vaibhav Talwar are good.
The film has a string of cameos including Jackie Shroff, Ajay Devgn amongst others.

Director Leena Yadav's second outing doesn't deliver. After starting off on the right foot, she strays too far. The film needed to be more concise & to the point.

To sum it up, Teen Patti is an average film. With a few good performances, the film doesn't create any magic. Good start, bad finish.
At the box office, one doesn't see it going too far either.
In the words of the film itself, I say PACK.

Rating: 2.5/5