Advertisement
Subscribe
X

Connect with us

Players

There is no other way to get past it than to just sit back and laugh out at the intended and unintended hilarity

Namrata Joshi

Updated on:

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sikander Kher, Johnny Lever, Omi Vaidya, Bobby Deol
Directed by Abbas-Mustan
Rating: **

A
t the risk of being excommunicated, let me state outright that I enjoyed watching Players more than the dull Don 2. Not because Abbas-Mustan have come up with a better and smarter film than Farhan Akhtar, but because there is no other way to get past Players than to just sit back and laugh out at the intended and unintended hilarity.

Forget about being an official remake of The Italian Job, Players does away with the original British caper even before the interval. It’s an out-and-out desi job—deliberately unrefined and implausible. There’s no sense in looking for reason or rationale here. Instead, keep an eye for all the hallmarks of the Abbas-Mustan brand of entertainment. The duo never lets up on the mind-numbing action and the innumerable twists ’n’ turns leave you with a crick in the neck. Sophistication is not the highpoint: the idea is to keep shocking and surprising the viewer. The actors have little else to do other than look blank and/or ham outrageously. And, of course, there is a liberal dose of foreign locales, bikini-clad women and low-brow comedy from Johnny Lever in a double role.

As for the story, it’s all about conman Charlie (Abhishek Bachchan) assembling a group of the best thieves to rob the gold being transported on a train from Russia to Romania. They manage to accomplish the task quite easily, but unforeseen complications follow.

Abbas-Mustan let the film swing between the hasty betrayals and the steady allegiances, between the moral and the immoral. So you have Jr. Bachchan talking about how in a country of “100 crore” people, dreams cannot be realised by following the straight and narrow. On the other hand, there’s master thief Vinod Khanna supporting the robbery so as to use the money for the betterment of orphans. What’s also striking in Players is how easily the Indian thieves make utter fools of the entire world. Be it a randy Russian army general or the docile New Zealander wife of the NRI Lever, the foreigners come across as being completely silly and unable to hold their own against Indian smarts.

Advertisement

High Fives

Bollywood

  1. Don 2
  2. Mission Impossible 4 (Eng)
  3. The Dirty Picture
  4. Mission Impossible 4 (Hin)
  5. Ladies vs Ricky Bahl

Hollywood

  1. The Devil Inside
  2. Mission Impossible 4
  3. Sherlock Holmes 2
  4. The Girl With...Dragon Tattoo
  5. Alvin...Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Rock

  1. Lonely Boy (The Black Keys)
  2. Sound Of Water (Bush)
  3. These Days (Foo Fighters)
  4. Face To The Floor (Chevelle)
  5. Paradise (Coldplay)

Courtesy: BoxofficeIndia.com

Published At:

Tags

US