ShortKut - The con is on (the public)

Promos / Trailers are an integral part of a film which can make or break a movie. When Priyadarshan had decided to show Hera Pheri as suspense thriller in his promos, he was very smart to leave out the humor element for the movie so as to not make it stale. On the other hand the recent CC2C's trailers consumed all of the movie's best scenes. One has to be really smart while cutting promos.

ShorKut was promoted to be a funny movie. The director's credits even forced you to believe it would be a funny movie. No offense to Neeraj Vora, but he has kind of been flagged as an average comedy film director. The public was fooled as the movie did not at all revolve around any comic situations. Mind you, I am not saying it was a bad movie. It was a good film, but I had expected something else out of it. This is a movie which shows the 2 different routes to attain success and the drama around it. Yes there are a couple of funny scenes in the movie but aren't those there in almost every movie?

Shekhar(Akshaye) is a talented script writer and is touted to make it big one day by his peers. Raju(Arshad) is a (non)actor who aspires to make it big in the industry. On one hand where Shekhar believes that only hard work is the key to success, Raju believes that there is always a shortcut to get to the top.

All hell breaks lose when Raju steals Shekhar's script and sells it to get a role in a film. Shekhar is devastated and decides to quit films, but his wife, fellow colleagues and his "basti waale" help him get out of the rut and make a movie. Shekhar decides that he will conquer his anger by working with Raju. Raju decides to ruin Shekhar and decides that he will leave the movie after 70% of its shooting.

For the climax, which is pretty good by the way, watch the movie.

Acting wise Akshaye is brilliant as always. I really feel he is the biggest underdog of Indian cinema. Whatever comedy there is in the film rests solely on Arshad's shoulders. He is supposed to be the bad guy with the gray shades. The final scene in the climax is where Arshad shows us that he is a fantastic actor as well. He gives some awesome expressions. I had really liked him in Sehar too. He should give a try for non comic roles as well. Amrita is OK.

Songs disappoint big time. This has to be S-E-L's weakest work till date. They try to recreate Kajrare with Mareeze Mohabbat but fail terribly. All the songs are fast forward material.

Director Neeraj Vora handles the subject well. He tries phasing into a different genre. A good try. Ditto for writer Anees Baazme. Neeraj Vora doubles up as a dialogue writer and this is the best of the lot. Some dialogues really hit bulls eye. The second half could have been tighter with less songs. Amrita's angle was not necessary in the movie.

Rating: ** (Watch it with a clean slate perspective. You might actually like it.)