Blood Money. The title spells gore and thrill. The B grade poster with bikini clad models surrounding bare chested Kunal Khemu lures with seductive promise for the front benchers. But then promises are meant to be broken.
Forget sex, forget sleaze, forget innumerable kisses, forget entertainment. All expectations of cheap thrills as well as any effort to stay a Bhatt loyalist go crashing with the first scene itself and never gets redeemed in this no blood, no money glitter less flick by debut director Vishal Mahadkar.
There is a scene in which Kunal (Kunal Khemu),is desperate to be understood for his drunken one night stand (what’s new) and his wife, Arzoo (Amrita Puri) simply shrugs, ”I don’t care.” Neither do you. You don’t care if this earnest but ambitious cute looking boy of “Kalyug” fame feels guilty about his behavior or if he repents choosing the fast lane with his Gujju boss, Zaveri alias Zakaria (Manish Choudhary)in Cape Town or if his life is in danger. You don’t care if his sweet, bored (and boring)wife is lonely and neglected .You don’t care if there is a diamond mafia even if the two bosses try to look and behave like sinister devils. You stop caring about the music which is good as always in a Bhatt movie. Probably because Bhatt doesn’t care himself anymore and it shows.
There is not a single character or a scene you haven’t seen before in all the Bhatt movies put together. Switch “Jannat” with this one and you won’t know the difference except that “Jannat” had some moments and some novice value. The plot, written by Upendra Sidhye, remains the same. Take a happy couple in love and put them in a situation full of riches and bad men, in this case diamond merchants of Cape Town.
Or as the film never tires of explaining as if everyone watching is a moron, it’s about Hansel and Gretel who in their attempt to eat the chocolate house, find themselves trapped by the old, ugly witch. Dialogues like, “main yehaan se vidhwa banke lautna nahin chahti” by a tearful Amrita draw loud guffaws in the theatre instead of sympathies. Flat characters and flat scenes take this predictable screenplay nowhere near either a romance or a thriller. Repetitive long dialogues (Sanjay Masoom)from the two bad bosses drag the story more than taking it forward.
Kunal Khemu plays it simple and controlled and manages to make his presence felt both with his looks and confident performance. Amrita Puri is still stuck with the dumb drawl that she has picked up from overplayed character in “Aisha”. Manish Choudhary and Sandip Sikand provide more entertainment than the rest in their villainy acts which they clearly enjoy performing.
Music by Jeet Ganguly is the only plus. The song by Rahet Fateh Ali has a Sufi quality about it and lyrics(Sayeed Qadri) like “main to bas teri chahat mein “ have more passion than the story.”Gunaah” penned by both Qadri and Kumaar, brings out pain and pathos in the mood . “Teri yaadon se” is a complete winner with its heart rending lyrics (Qadri);“Yeh woh baarish hai,deti banjar hai,bheegke hoga kya haasil,tujhe hi nahi jab meri aarzoo hai.., Mustafa’s voice and upcoming composer, Pranay’s soulful music.
Overall, Blood Money is anything but paisa wasool. Same spin, same song. Emraan Hashmi and his never ending kisses are truly missed in this lazy Bhatt movies rehash. The viewer is advised to spend his money on the much discussed Hansel and Gretel fairy tale instead.
After all, who can resist chocolates and witches?
My word, that's a harsh review. Reminds me of Khalid Mohammad in his prime!
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