Game Hindi Film Review

Suspense/mystery is a genre which requires considerable thought and has the chances to bomb if not done right.The most important aspect of  this type of film is a racy screenplay which do not distract the attention of the audience and forces him to invest his attention on the film.'The Game' is a film which breaks this cardinal rule and is an abomination to this intelligent genre.The screenplay is weak,the story is implausible,the performances are irritating,add all these factors and what you get is a mish mash of a suspense movie,devoid of any mystery,which the viewer wants to finish as quickly as possible so that he can get on with his life and forget the fact that he wasted 2 hours of his life on this crap.

Kabir Malhothra is a billionaire with some secrets to hide who resides in an Island at Greece in his palatial home.He keeps track of four people from different parts of the world with whom he has a connection which will be made clear as the movie proceeds.These four people are from different backgrounds ranging from a casino owner in Turkey,a movie star in India,a journalist in England and a prime ministerial candidate in Thailand.He invites these four people to his island.They also have some secrets to hide and is at a stage of life where they are staring at failures,so this invitation from a billionaire rekindles hope in them for a better future.But what awaits them is not what they expect and they could see that their already miserable life crumbling in front of them when they meet Malhothra.The meeting sets off a chain of events that turn their lives upside down.What now follows is a murder and then the investigation with these four being the primary suspects,the secrets are slowly revealed,we are exposed to shocking truths and surprising revelation awaits at the end.

The film struggles to keep the attention of the viewer.The shocking revelations do not have the necessary impact and there are logical flaws through out the movie.The setting in a foreign country completely botches the authenticity aspect,since the intention here seems to shoot only at scenic places around the world rather than concentrate on the mystery aspect and give a satisfactory solution to the puzzle.

The film is technically sound.Stunt scenes are well pictured.But the chase scene involving Neil Menon trying to get rid of surveillance was poorly done and was getting on the nerves due to its length and its drag on the already snail like pace of the movie.Music of the film is also disappointing.None of the songs are memorable.Background music also do not rise up to the occasion.

Anupam Kher  has given a fine performance as Kabir Malhothra,Shahana Goswami as a journalist has also done justice to that role.Abhishek Bachchan is just about passable as Neil Menon.Rest of the actors do not pass muster.Jimmy Shergill is generally a reliable actor but here he seems to be out of sorts.Kangna Raut seems to be trying too hard to make an impact and comes off superficial and fake.The entire concept of Indian police officer working with English police is something difficult to digest.Then again this film is such a poorly thought out one that there is no point in wasting time in analyzing stuff like this.

My Rating: POOR