Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 Review {2/5 stars}: Sanjay Dutt's royal thriller lacks lustre

Film: Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 (Drama/Thriller)
Critic’s Rating: 2/5(** stars)
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Sheirgill, Chitrangda Singh, Soha Ali Khan, Mahie Gill
Direction: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Duration: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Language: Hindi (A)

Story:

Like the previous installments – Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster(2011) and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns(2013) – the third outing that comes with a five-year gap attempts to tell a story of palace, power and politics; of conspiracy, greed and lust in the life of some two defunct royal families, whose privy purses were stopped in 1971. Wish someone had the royals meaningless plotting too. Here Madhavi(Mahie Gill) who wants her husband Saheb aka Aditya(Jimmy Sheirgill) dead, hires a outlaw, Uday(Sanjay Dutt) to finish the game. And, the cloak-and-dagger game begins...Alas!

Review:

On paper, the script of SBG3 must have shown potential. Writer, Sanjay Chauhan who joins hands with filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia to tell yet another chapter in the decadent ways of the once rich and famous using stock characters of a saheb, his queens(Mahie and Soha Ali Khan) and a hired assassin(Dutt), falls flat on his face.

Yes, there is some dialogue that gets you to snigger and even applaud (more because you are being held captive) but the overall writing quality is so poor that Dhulia (director) is unable to make a coherent film. For one there is no mystery and for two, this jigsaw puzzle fails to hold our interest. Leave alone making an attempt to solve this one, you will want to avoid it like the plague. Everyone on screen, with the exception of Jimmy Sheirgill is sleepwalking.

Much as you try, you can neither invest in the characters emotionally or academically because they come across as cardboard cutouts trying hard to get your attention through their Machiavellian methods. And the harder each of them tries, the more they come across as caricatures.   

The scheming and sexually over-active queen Madhavi seems to be a nymphomaniac who plays childish games with `polo-players' she picks up at random parties. However, she is no Lady Chatterley. She can at best be labelled a c**k tease, whose desperate attempts to appear cool and calculating are laughable. The saheb, Aditya who is incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit, comes out of prison angry and thirsting for his queen's blood. He spits fire but his follow-up actions lack power. 

And the actual Bishop, joker or gangsta in the pack, Uday played by Sanjay Dutt has an even more terribly-sketched character. Not only does he look a bit-tired and too-touched up, the attempts to make him appear sinister seem forced. 

Sample this: he(Dutt) is thrown out of India because of his penchant for Russian Roulette (a game in which one opponent shoots himself dead, while the other makes a `killing') and he is deported back from his exile in London because he kills a Lord by smashing his head with a bottle! And yet, this Bishop strikes no terror in our hearts. Instead he comes across as an ageing `mafioso' who strolled into this movie-outing because he was bored sitting down alone at home.

Nautch-girl, Suhani(Chitrangda Singh) who plays Dutt's love-interest is there to provide relief from the otherwise jaded faces on screen. And, Ranjhana (Soha Ali Khan) is wasted so terribly in the film, she should sue herself for doing this. 

Kabir Bedi and Nafisa Ali who show up as royals look happy that they got to air themselves, instead of gathering dust on some shelf somewhere.Nothing here is even remotely subtle. The item number is outdated. And, there's a track that goes Baba, he is the real Baap. This plays each time Sanjay Dutt breaks into action and is meant to send chills down your spine! But it is unwittingly funny and makes you crack up because it's so immature.  

Verdict:

If you're in the mood for palace politics tune into Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (Part I).  At least it had mystery and it was told honestly with some amount of panache. Be warned; the third installment in injurious to health. It lacks substance, style, spirit and spunk.