Slick and Stylish Johnny Gaddar

Heist movies have not been a big draw at the Bollywood BO window, neither have many been made nor all that were made been successful. The only successful Bollywood heist movie that comes to my mind is "Johnny Mera Naam"- that unforgettable Dev Anand- Hema Malini starrer that had everything working in its favor. It is precisely from JMN and James Hardley Chase that Sriram Raghavan has been inspired to come up with the very skillfully made "Johnny Gaddar". Seshadri (a perfectly cast Dharmendra), Shardul (a very impressive Zakir Hussain), Prakash (the extremely dependable Vinay Pathak), Shiva (a very passable Daya Shetty) and Vikram (Neil Nithin Mukesh scoring a perfect 10 on his debut) work together and all that they are interested in is making some quick money. Seshadri's friend Inspector Kalyan (Govind Namdeo, very effective) approaches them with an offer to make a quick fortune of 2.5 crores in 4 days. The gang accepts it and starts working on it. But one of its members plays a double cross and what follows is a series of escapades and murders. Johnny Gaddar is not definitely a whodunnit since the identity of the double crosser is revealed in the first reels of the film itself. It is more about how he is going to save himself from being caught and this is what the uniqueness of the film is. Sriram Raghavan drafts an excellent script with crisp dialogues and also extracts credible performances from an ensemble cast. The editing, camera, sound and art are all first rate and ably support Raghavan in carrying the movie forward. Shankar- Ehsaan- Loy trio's music stands out though the songs play only in the background. The title track and "Bhool jaaye pyaar mein" featuring Hard Kaur deserve special mention. The background score enhances the effect of the movie thoroughly. Sriram Raghavan more than proves that "Ek Hasina Thi' was not a flash in the pan. His movies might be dark and brooding but they definitely are slick and stylish. With the multiplex crowd accepting movies that are unconventional and well made, the going should get easier for talented directors like Sriram Raghavan in the near future. Go watch Johnny Gaddar- efforts like these need to be appreciated!