Director: Abbas-Mustan
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor
Rating: **
Rather than ‘who-dun-it’, Abbas-Mustan mysteries are in the genre of ‘why-done-it’. The culprit is open to the audience since the outset, but his intentions aren’t unveiled. Race too trails a mandatory murder case fulfilling the standard Abbas-Mustan thriller template. Alas the director duo tries to be smart but not intelligent.
The needless narration at the very onset talks of the weak and conventional characterizations that don’t talk of themselves but need a speaker for specifications. Post the prologue, the film follows the Abbas-Mustan formula of obligatory introductions, regular romance and transition tracks for the first 20 minutes. Their thrillers don’t come with the ‘Do not miss the beginning’ tags. In fact one wishes to skip the stale start!
The race is between two step-brothers and the plot is still devised on the undying life-insurance money maneuver. One brother’s murder is other brother’s moolah. And each one is set to outdo the other. But in this race, the makers attempt to overtake your sensibilities. Check this out - in knocking off the elder brother (Saif), the younger (Akshaye) goes out of his way to manipulate a marriage with a con-girl (Bipasha), just so that he could use his spouse to push big brother off a high-rise. Seems like Abbas-Mustan haven’t upgraded themselves ever since Baazigar days where SRK indulged in a similar act. And you don’t have to be an Ekta Kapoor soap consumer to estimate that if one of the main leads is eliminated by the interval, he will come back from the dead in the climax.
Subsequently the film resorts to the trademark tricks to induce thrills. But for someone fed (or fed up) on a staple diet of Abbas-Mustan suspense dramas, it isn’t much difficult to predict at what instance will the director-duo double cross. The perceptive viewer races ahead of the director’s shock-treatment tactics and isn’t duped. After all, the scheme of one-upmanship between two male rivals has been already exploited by the directors to the point of diminishing returns in Ajnabee, Humraaz and Naqaab.
There’s also a Karamchand kinda investigating officer (Anil Kapoor) who substitutes the detective’s carrot by chomping fruitlessly to glory. This Karamchand also has Kitty (Sameera Reddy) for company who isn’t just silly and naïve but also stupid and irritating. En route their investigation, the officer also flirts with his simpleton secretary on Cape Town beaches as the film takes a preposterous excuse to exhibit bikinis.
Also the makers should understand that while shoving songs in the screenplay to induce some lighter moments, there has to be some tense instances in the thriller at the first place. Alas this one doesn’t take you to the edge-of-the-seat in anticipation but only makes you fall-off-the-chair with easy assumptions. Furthermore the directors take the title of the film a bit too seriously, adding a literal car chase in the climax which suffices for the formulaic action ending.
Technically, the action is outdated and camerawork inconsistent. However, the director-duo is smart enough to commercially camouflage the loopholes in the plot with a racy and rapacious end.
The performances are more cool than competent. Saif exudes a calm composure but this stubbly look is too ‘on-the-face’. Akshaye’s restricted to his traditional tweaking facial expressions. Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif are eye-candy. Anil Kapoor is over-the-top. Sameera Reddy is avidly avoidable.
How one wishes director brothers Abbas Mustan had shown more innovation and integrity in their attempts at dividing the step-brothers.
Race is reasonable enough to win a ‘not bad’ stamp. But isn’t imaginative enough to gain a ‘good’ tag.
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