Rohan Sippy’s Bluffmaster is a treat for the eyes. As an attempt to construct a story around south Bombay's roads and high rises, it’s alternately sturdy and wobbly.
Bluffmaster
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra
Direction: Rohan Sippy
Rating: **1/2
Swoon, the sky over Flora Fountain is painted by the moon. The art-deco doorways at the Maratha Mandir cinema are so cool. Colaba’s Leopold café is chic-‘n’-hip where waiters are given a measly tip. Rampart Row still has its architectural delights; the city rocks by day and night.
Truly, as a valentine to south Bombay, Rohan Sippy’s Bluffmaster is a treat for the eyes. As an attempt to construct a story around its roads, apartments and high rises, it’s alternately sturdy and wobbly. The director does disclose a more assured control over the medium than in his debut-making Kuchh Na Kaho. Errr, the snag is that he still doesn’t seem to have very much to k..k..kaho.
Besides the allusions to Shaan, Do aur Do Paanch and Sting, the screenplay is on a marathon snitching spree. Elements are ripped off from Matchstick Men – in which Nicolas Cage was a con man called Roy. Oi oi, Mr Bluff here is called Roy too. And the stray similarities to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels must be purely coincidental. Creativity ittefaq hai, what.
To be fair, the first-half of this 14-reeler does have an audience-friendly tempo, and some saucy moments. Our Roy boy (Abhishek Bachchan), a confidence trickster, has resolved to turn over a new leaf. Too late, mate. His fiancée (Priyanka Chopra) discovers the awful truth. Tsk, she refuses to play Babli to his Bunty. Baj gayee ghanti?
You bet. Suddenly Roy’s surrounded by wackos ranging from a wannabooze scamster (Riteish Deshmukh, in sleeveless vests, heavens!), a dithering doctor (Boman Irani) who couldn’t cure a common cold. And hey, a ghoulish hotelier (Nana Patekar) who plays noughts-‘n’-crosses on a junior artiste’s thighs.
So far, so yo. Rohan Sippy and pals are having fun like kids playing kho kho. Trouble ahead. Through events more meandering than the Mount Abu ghats, our Roy Bluffdawalla tries to come to terms with a terminal disease denoted by deadly computer diagrams. You really need a sense of brain tumour humour to endure such silly scenes as grown-up men locked in a tussle in a hospital ward. Funneee?
The wind-up is such a cop-out that you want to bang your head against the multiplex wall. Rohan Sippy, in his bid for a surprise twist, blows what could have been a feelglad entertainer.
On the tech-front, the editing is sometimes crisp, sometimes soggy. The gambit of using remixed songs from yesterday and today, doesn’t quite pay off. The end-credit title song’s a waste, what with viewers toppling all over you to rush to the exit.
On the plus-side, Himman Dhamija’s city-centric cinematography is outstanding. Ditto the stylish set properties (dig the cool paintings).
As for the performances, they’re a mixed bag. Nana Patekar’s psychotechnics have become tiresome. Boman Irani is dangerously inching towards becoming a super ham. Riteish Deshmukh’s okayish and Priyanka Chopra’s dokayish.
Bankably, Abhishek Bachchan is restrained, investing the crucial quotients of conviction and sincerity in a demanding role.
Bottomline: A notch above the average. Full stop.
Rating:
Outstanding:*****
Very Good: ****
Good: ***
Average **
Poor: *
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