Posted on January 16, 2008 - by Reema - 0 Comments

Movie Review: Johnny Gaddar

I forgot about this one. I’m glad I remembered.
Spoilers included

Johnny Gaddar introduces Neil Nitin Mukesh, son of singer Nitin Mukesh. No acting background. And for a first film, he’s pretty good. I prefer this debut over Ranbir Kapoor’s debut. Neil doesn’t play it safe and start out with a sappy love story. No, he opts for the gangster film. He took the chance, and yes, he was barely noticed. But he did a fine job, and JG should have fared better at the box office, because it’s a great film.

It starts off with someone being shot to death. We don’t see the shooter, we don’t see the victim. Then starts the backstory. Make sure you keep watching, because it starts out slow. But when it picks up, you can’t wait to see what happens next. Once our main character makes his decision, we see one thing coming out of another, and as you see the chain of events start to unfold, you start trying to guess how it’s going to go.

All the characters are perfectly cast. Dharmendra has a short but good role, though I would have liked to see more of him. Vinay Pathak and Zakir Hussain also fit right in. Rimi Sen is wasted, anyone could have done her role (as it seems is the case in all of her movies), and Ashwini Kalsekar does a great job, leaves a lasting impression. I hope she gets more roles in Bollywood.

I skipped the songs, so nothing to say there. Also skimmed through some of the space filler parts, and there are a lot of those. Scenes where nothing really happens. But the scenes where the story progresses are well done. The ways Vikram tries to explain his way out of things, how the others figure out what happen, how lucky Vikram gets at times. The guy really had someone watching over him it seemed, for a while at least.

It does get a bit brutal. Especially when Mr. Corrupt Cop breaks a nurse’s wrist. And then cuts off her finger. Two parts where I closed my eyes. I’m so not watching that. Also, when Vikram’s hand gets pushed up into a full speed ceiling fan. Ouch. Good thing it was only a dream.

Overall, Johnny G is a must watch. Once it gets going, the story moves right along, and keeps you guessing. And the ending is surprising. And justified. A classic case of what goes around comes around.

Hopefully Neil gets more quality movies. I hope he can make a positive name for himself in Bollywood. He has the looks, and the talent is there.

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