bluffmaster!
Director: Rohan Sippy
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Nana Patekar, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani
5.5/10
Rohan Sippy is most likely to say Kuch Na Kaho when reminded about how the box-office called his bluff the first time he made a film. That was the time when a gawky Abhishek Bachchan, who acted in it, may well have been contemplating a career change. Times have changed and Abhishek now has a swagger that comes with success and Sippy sports a zapata moustache to go with the mood of his second film. The confidence shows in Bluffmaster!, a ‘timepass’ con caper that thankfully does not pretend to be anything else.
Once you get past the inevitable comparisons between Bluffmaster! and Bunty Aur Babli, the difference between the two ? in terms of both form and content ? becomes more obvious to the eye. As opposed to the smalltown swindler that Abhishek played in the Shaad Ali-directed blockbuster, his character in Bluffmaster! is distinctly urbane and radically different in his take on life. The basic plot is also not so much about how the master bluffer cons people as it is about how he himself gets conned by fate. Above all, Bluffmaster! is about the relationship between Abhishek and Priyanka, who make a fetching pair.
The film’s main drawback ? and there are several ? lies in the mismatch between Sippy’s languid style of filmmaking and a story that calls for a more energetic approach. There are moments in Bluffmaster! when you wish the action had been faster. The slackness in direction is, however, compensated for by Sridhar Raghavan’s dialogues, which should rank among the wittiest written for the screen in recent times. Riteish Deshmukh and Nana Patekar steal the punchlines, but Abhishek fans need not despair. The rap song as the credits roll at the end establishes Bachchan Junior as the country’s first hip-hop star.
Ritu Parna Dutta
SWAPNO
Director: Haranath Chakraborty
Cast: Prosenjit, Sayantani Ghosh, Jisshu Sengupta, Meghna Halder, Abhishek Chatterjee, Deepankar De, Anamika Saha, Bharat Kaul, Rajesh Sharma, Pratim Chatterjee
5.5/10
The ‘modern’ difference between Dui Prithibi and Swapno is Jisshu’s black T-shirt saying, ‘Hard Fcuk’ across his chest. Other than that, Victor Banerjee played the bad man conman in the earlier film and Jisshu plays a wicketkeeper-batsman who for Rs 50 lakh from bookie Rajesh Sharma, drops Inzamam’s catch and runs out ‘Banglaar Bagh’ Sourav Ganguly. Good for the makers that the Sourav controversy has come at the time of release.
In fact, that is a very interesting and contemporary track incorporated into this ‘remake’ of Dui Prithibi. And though Jisshu doesn’t display any great cricketing technique, at least he looks the part, and hits a histrionic boundary after padding his way through the bigscreen matches so far.
The performances of the entire cast are pretty competent, with Deepankar De partnering Prosenjit in an endearing father-son bonding; Abhishek playing within his limitations well; and Anamika effecting a neat variation in her deliveries. The fire services minister Pratim Chatterjee, whose name now rings a bell every time you see a Haranath Chakraborty film.
But, in the end, the film belongs singularly to Prosenjit who underplays his role of the sacrificing elder son with consummate ease and also playing his age (with a three-minute concession for a rain song) in this restrained melodrama. The dialogues are feelingly written and draw applause and tears at the right places. That should augur well for the city and suburb audiences both. So what if all the songs are ‘replayed’ from Dui Prithibi; that’s the trend nowadays in Bollywood, too. At least, you want to hear an Ei aakaash sona sona all over again. Don’t worry, Uttam Kumar himself would have approved.
Anil Grover
