If the entire north India has been praying hard for the elusive monsoons, film buffs too are hoping for something as evasive: a decent watchable flick to get much-needed relief from weeks of cinematic fiascos. Unfortunately, it continues to remain an unachievable dream with the new release of the week: Asambhav: The Impossible.
Filmmaker Rajiv Rai has had some slick, fetchingly shot, goofily entertaining thrillers like Gupt, Tridev and Mohra to his credit. Asambhav doesn't follow in that tradition, instead it goes the way of Rai's last outing at the turnstiles, Pyar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat, and may well be his worst ever career debacle. In keeping with his style, Rai shoots Asambhav in some wonderfully scenic Locarno locales and uses a spiffy split-screen format and quick cuts to give a hip feel to the film. He also tries to contemporise the drama with political references to the Indo-Pak problem, the thorny Kashmir issue, Al Jazeera etc but it all remains very perfunctory and the lack of a cogent story prevents Rai's snazzy story-telling from going very far.
Asambhav's basic problem is that of plenty. It has too many crooks spoiling the plot. There are the Afghanis, the isi agents, the international drug-dealers, petty criminals—the rogues gallery spills over and gets complicated to the extent that you can't even find answers to basic questions as who kills whom, when, where and why? Here's what you do come to know: the president of India and his daughter get kidnapped in Switzerland by an Afghani-ISI combine, the money for the operations coming in through a drug deal brokered by millionaire Sam played by Naseeruddin Shah. Now whyever did the thespian have to do this role, his friendship with Rai notwithstanding? That needs some serious figuring out. Coming back to the plot, commando Arjun Rampal, the one-man rescue team, lands in to get our president back home. He is aided in his mission with some romantic, musical and gyrational support from singer-bar dancer Priyanka Chopra.
There could have been something nicely retro about Asambhav, like those unpretentious, balmy kind of entertainers. But Rai decides not to display any flair or fun. Watch Asambhav only for the hunk appeal of Rampal. But wouldn't you be better off ogling at his posters?
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Courtesy: Film Information
