Khoda pahad nikla chuha: Johnny Gaddar

Thrillers and Hindi cinema are not a match made in heaven. Most of them are pathetic (that is not to say Indian cinema has not produced good thrillers...for reference watch Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella or even the Byomkesh Bakshi series on TV). That's why I was completely hooked after watching Sriram Raghavan's earlier film, Ek Hasina Thi. It was an out and out thriller with an awesome ending. It had set a precedent for me in terms of genre. When I heard that Johnny Gaddar was Raghavan's film, I was scared. The track record of Indian directors when it came to sustaining the high of a first film wasn't great (think Ram Gopal Verma's Rangeela and then his latter films).

However, the film started with great promise. The atmosphere was perfectly set: pouring rain, a man opening a garage door, a gloved hand holding a gun and boom....blood everywhere. The film then begins in the form of flashback. Five business associates, Sheshadri (Dharmendra), Prakash (Vinay Pathak), Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Shiva (Daya Shetty) and Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh) plan a business deal to make a fast buck. Vikram decides to double cross the gang and run off with the money. His reason though is not purely mercenery. He wants to elope with Shardul's wife, Mini (Rimi Sen). An accident leads to murder and the chase to find the betrayer begins in earnest.

While the identity of the "gaddar" is no mystery, one somehow cannot believe that things are that simple. My friends and I kept trying to guess the real identity of the "gaddar". But as it turned out, there was no other "gaddar". It left me with a curiously unsatisfied feeling. "Khoda pahar nikla chuha". That's an apt epitah for the movie and that was also the reason why I was curiously uninspired to write a review of the film although I did enjoy it. However, the movie had its moments. The way the "gaddar's" identity is revealed to the last surviving gang member is a brilliant touch. That one scene shows that the director respects his viewers.

A word for the new comer, Neil Nitin Mukesh (he is Mukesh's grandson). He is a treat to watch. Although he doesn't revel in blood and gore, he kills without a qualm. For him, its just a logical step that he needs to take if he wants to succeed in running away with his lover. Each actor is good in his respective role although the only weak one is Rimi Sen. She doesn't really add much to the role and plays the stereotype of a damsel in distress on expected lines. Rasika Joshi as Pathak's wife is commendable.