Maximum Review

MAXIMUM is a Hindi feature film which released on 29th June, 2012. This film has been directed by Kabeer Kaushik and stars Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah, Neha Dhupia, Vinay Pathak and Rajendra Gupta. This movie has been produced under the banner of Vainteya Films and falls in the genre of crime thriller.

Story : Though its first scene starts with the climax scene, the story goes back to the year 2003 of Bombay city (now known as Mumbai). Pandit (Sonu Sood) is an encounter specialist. He lives with his wife Supriya (Neha Dhupia) and his daughter, who is a school going young girl. There are a few other people like Bachchoo who assist him. On the other hand there is another encounter specialist Arun Inaamdar (Naseeruddin Shah). Once he used to be the senior of Pandit but now he is not. He is also jealous of Pandit. He feels that Pandit was trying to reach above his height by encountering his informers. Hence, to show him down he too goes on shooting gangsters one by one, who are mostly Pandit's informers. Thus, both the encounter specialists become the enemy of each other and go on killing each other's men in the name of criminals. They don't even spare... Well, that is a big question which you should know by watching the movie. What is the mystery? Do they kill their families? Or do they kill each other? This is what is shown in the climax.

But should you watch this film just to know whether the two encounter specialists killed each other or not?

Read the review ahead which would help you to decide whether you should watch it or not.

Acting : This film rotates around Sonu Sood. He has got enough footage to show his acting skills and he succeeds in performing brilliantly. As an encounter specialist he looks cruel and as a husband he looks quite different. He looks ruthless while shooting the criminals and he becomes very lovely and gentleman while talking to his family. His fatherly affection is great towards his daughter. Naseeruddin Shah has also acted very well and appears calm but merciless encounter specialist. Neha Dhupia has done well. She completely fits into the role of a housewife. In fact she looks better than her roles of skin exposure. The child artists (Reet Sharma in the role of his daughter) have also performed well. Amit Sadh in the role of a journalist fits into the role and has justified the role. Vinay Pathak is good in his role. He has played the role of a North Indian politician (netajee). In this role he has serious character but he appears better than his comical roles. Rajendra Gupta is also okay in his role. Mohan Agashe has also performed well. Swanand Kirkire as an associate of Sonu Sood has done better than others. Aarya Babbar has got very less footage and is average. Hazel Keech can be seen in the item song 'Aa Ante' but isn't impressive.

Script : Its story, screenplay and dialogues are written by the director Kabeer Kaushik. The script is very confusing. Screenplay is not good. You won't find any continuity in most of the scenes. There are many scenes which have no meaning or which end abruptly and leave you clueless till the end. Your questions are not even answered in the end and you have to go out with an irritated mind. Only a few scenes between father and the daughter are good.

Music : Background music is average. In terms of songs, music composed by Amjad-Nadeem is dull with an exception of the song 'Aa Ante'. Its composition is good but you don't understand the meaning of the lyrics.

Editing : Editing is very poor! Many cuts are abrupt. It is the background music in most of the scenes that connect each other. In a scene, when Vinay Pathak is waiting to know the result (about the attack of Sonu Sood), his close up has been kept on the screen for so long that you get irritated. Again the editor didn't bother to show the close ups of the people to whom he was talking. You only get chance to see them when they are shot dead and still you are unable to recognize them completely.

Choreography : In the song 'Aa Ante' the choreographer could have given better steps and movements but has failed to do so and the dance doesn't impress you.

Direction : Direction by Kabeer Kaushik is poor. Was it editor's fault who didn't keep shots of the people whom Vinay Pathak was talking to or was it director's fault is a big question? At the end of the day, it's director's fault because he is responsible to look after everything before the release of the film. Why did he allow such shot to be released? The director failed in giving a good film in many ways. He was unable to make it clear to the audience who was shooting whom. It was very confusing and without any meaning. He forced the item song. You could have tolerated it if prior to the item song you would have enjoyed the film.

The director only succeeded in filming a few shots of running train. He also filmed the relation between father and daughter in a well manner. Rest everything was boring (pakoooo-पकाऊ ) .

Plus Points : Hardly Anything

Minus Points : Poor Script; Weak Direction; Weak Characters; Music Below Average; Poor Editing

Conclusion : The director could have given a good film with the same cast had he chosen a good story. But the director wasted the talents of such good actors. The director could have taken advantage of no other big release this week with his film, but due to poor script he lost a golden opportunity to give a successful film to its makers and distributors.

Box Office Predictions : Though no other big film released along with this film, it is hardly going to survive at the box office. Despite good performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Sonu Sood, this film will fail at the box office and will not earn high revenues due to bad script.

Verdict : A Pakaooooooo (पकाऊ) film! Watch at your own risk if you can tolerate anything!