Ghanchakkar Review

One Line Review: A disheartening, humdrum comic-thriller full of splendid performances, but lacking a single drop of natural flavor.

Positive Points: Character performances, music

Negative Points: Poor direction, half baked story, vulgar dialogues, dragged and needlessly included scenes, derogatory comedy, absurd climax

Plot: The story revolves around a married couple Sanju Atre (Emraan Hashmi) and Neetu ( Vidya Balan). Sanju is a Maharashtrian guy who is a slacker , absent minded and does not remember the small things. He is a professional thief who has earned a lot and now can afford being idle for years relaxing in his house. While Neetu is a loud Punjabi housewife who is a fond of bizarre fashion and accessories. Both live in Mumbai enjoying at leisure life. One day, Sanju gets a call from his previous colleagues Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) and Idris (Namit Das) for an assignment. Pandit calls him for a meeting at Andheri station at 12:30 am and narrates him the plan of robbing the ABI Bank. Sanju is initially reluctant for this , but Neetu encourages him to participate in this worthy plan.

According to the plan, Sanju, Pandit and Idris successfully rob the bank and steal Rs. 35 Crores. Pandit and Idris tell Sanju to hide money with him and after a hiatus of 3 and half months, they will come to him to collect their share. As per the conclusion, Sanju hides the money with him. After three months, Pandit calls Sanju but he simply refuses to even recognize him. Pandit and Idris get furious and surprised watching Sanju's strange behavior with them. They order him to give their share of loot, but Sanju simply snubs saying that he does not remember anything. Pandit and Idris find something fishy and get determined to find the money as they suspect Sanju of getting all the money for himself. They try lots of tactics to get the money from Sanju , but he says that in an accident, he has suffered from dementia (loss of memory) and does not remember the location of the money. Pandit and Idris do not believe in Sanju and kidnap Neetu. But their plan goes in vain as Sanju still does not reveal anything about the money. Tired of Sanju's strange dementia, Pandit and Idris shift to Sanju's house in order to keep an eye on Sanju and to get any clue about the money.

Will Sanju be able to remember the location of their money?

Is Sanju really has dementia or he is just pretending it for the sake of money?

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: The director Rajkumar Gupta has previously given classics like 'Aamir' and 'No One Killed Jessica'. But his time he has completely failed in getting the expected and desired result. 'Ghanchakkar' is the film which can neither be called as a thriller nor a comic caper. Gupta has worked on a half baked script and the film suffered a lot because of its loopholes and loose direction. He has not included the comedy as well as thrill in this movie. Many unrealistic things are shown by him like in a bustling city like Mumbai, the railway station of Andheri cannot be deserted at any point of time. In addition to the disaster, he has shown some dragged and unnecessary things which makes the speed of the story very slow. Few lovemaking scenes are needlessly included and so are the vulgar dialogues. There is a new trend in Hollywood that lovemaking scenes are excluded from the movie in order to make it a complete , clean family entertainer. Bollywood should also follow this trend and must avoid the excessive usage of double meaning vulgar dialogues and unwanted adult content. There are abundant technical mistakes in the film which the intellectual director like Rajkumar Gupta could have easily avoided. After the bright and realistic films like 'No One Killed Jessica' and 'Aamir' , Gupta has come up with a completely unexpected and impractical movie which has an abrupt climax.

Performances: The talented actress Vidya Balan completely shines off in her role of an eccentric, loud and over fashionable Punjabi housewife. She seems original, genuine and only delight in the movie to watch for. Emraan Hashmi very well played the absent minded couch potato husband who loves his TV more than his wife. His performance was perfect and up to the mark. Supporting actors Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das have played their parts brilliantly. They mark their on screen presence though the senior artists like Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan catch most of the attention of the audience. Both the actors have a good comic timing and have a good future ahead.

Music: The music director Amit Trivedi has done an excellent job and composed the good music for this comedy thriller. The song 'Allah Meherbaan' by Divya Kumar and Amit Trivedi is impressive. The background score is also well crafted.

Final Verdict: It's indigestible to see brilliant Vidya Balan choosing such a pathetic script after delivering two back-to-back hits. Undisputedly, this movie does not fall under the class of the masterpieces of the director, who captivated audience in his earlier super hits. This movie assures to provide ample rest to your brain owing to its unrealistic and dull stuff. Rather than opting for this flick devoid of any buffoonery, go for the other paisa-vasool entertainers like 'Raanjhanaa' and 'Fukrey', which had still kept the cash registers ringing with great figures.