Rating :*
Can Himesh Reshammiya act? What a silly question! As silly as asking,
can Reshammiya sing? Of course he can't! Who said he was an actor
in the first place?
The role of Reshammiya has been written to accentuate his capped
unsmiling visage. He gets on stage, bursts into many self-written
songs where hordes of fans shriek, clap and cheer. They take to
Reshammiya like fish to water.
If you are Reshammiya you win the race even before the gun goes
off.
Guns do go off in this musical thriller where the music often provides
the thrills while the suspense about a murdered girl's body in the
rock star's purview leaves you as cold as the corpse that triggers
off a chain of reactions ranging from weird to wired - depending
on which side of the stage you're standing and peering from.
To ensure a safe passage into celluloid stardom, Reshammiya has
spared no pains. "Aap Kaa Surroor" has everything - from
untried snow-capped locations to spotlight the capped cheerleaders
auspicious journey into the sphere of stardom, to dozens of auto-rickshaws
suddenly appearing to support Reshammiya's hefty hi jinks.
To be fair, the songs and the stage performances do make your pulse
pound and your feet feverishly wild. The "Mehbooba" track
put there mainly to make Mallika Sherawat sizzle, gets slightly
off-colour. It tries too hard to win over the audience and influence
their judgement.
But you really can't win over the audience with songs and stage
performances. They see Reshammiya doing that anyway. What was required
was a strong plotline to carry his acting aspirations into the sphere
of the bearable, if not the believable.
Vibha Singh's screenplay seems to have borrowed generously, if
somewhat unnecessarily, from Jon Avnet's thriller "Red Corner"
where Richard Gere played a foreigner in China who has to clear
himself of murder charges with the help of a sexy lawyer.
Mallika doubling up as a femme fatale and a lawyer provides all
the unintentional laughter.
It's hard to answer why Reshammiya decided to become an actor when
he very obviously can't act?
His leading lady Hansika Motwani can act. She does so in every
moment, countering Reshammiya's deadpan expressions with an overdose
of facial gymnastics, which qualify her as the new age all-purpose
Barbie doll.
Rock meets deadwood in this mixture of staged splendour and doctored
misadventure. The locations are well exploited by Manoj Soni's camera.
The frames avoid garish overstatement. But a quiet confidence is
no substitute for genuine ability.
Both Reshammiya and his director fail to generate a high level
of curiosity in the screen adventures of the nasal drifter.
Reshammiya, cancel the sequel.