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March 23, 2008

I went to a film on opening weekend, and all I got was lousy, unsurprising plot twists: Race

Abbas-Mustan's Race is largely disappointing and ineffective, though it does have its moments, like Akshaye in a fringed leather jacket and boot-scootin' with Saif. This particular song also has a US Civil War-style confederate flag in the background - nooooo! - and interestingly I saw this movie the day after I saw the Sony Ericsson ad in which Hrithik might be wearing blackface (starting at :17)...eeep.

I do want to say one significant nice thing about Race: the two lead female characters, played by Bipasha and Katrina, actually have a lot to do in the story! They're not significant in the major action sequences, but they certainly do their share to move the plot along in other ways and have as much up their sleeves as Saif and Akshaye. And these are figurative sleeves, of course - BipKat usually wear tank tops, mini skirts, and wee dresses. There's a ton of skin in this movie, and some of it felt like the directors were compensating for the less-than-thrilling thriller they were making. "If you're not surprised when this character switches allegiances for the umpteenth time, how about seeing both Akshaye and Saif with no shirts!" (Though not at the same time, of course. Then someone would have had to come up with a clunky, stupid gay joke.) Look out, Mr. Darcy! You're getting a run for your horse-accompanied, soaked-white-shirt smolder!

My further thoughts on Race are at Desicritics.

(Images courtesy of the official site.)
Labels: house favorite: Khanna khandan (Vinod; Akshaye; Rahul) thoughts on movies Anonymous said…
I seem like loner in this, but I enjoyed "Race", quite a lot, reading back on my own write-up, I think I am 'too' nice, but this is why I do the write-up straight after seeing it. To capture a snapshot of how I felt after the show.

Okay, so the plot was quite predictable, the mechanisms for humour were contrived, but Akshaye and Saif were both good in their roles. Even the ladies having their moments of double & triple betrayals, it was good enough for me.

Admittedly, I think they had scope for a lot more if they did focus on the "why" ... * the jump into a car race in the end was almost silly, but I forgive a lot easier I guess.

This and the recent drought of Bolly-flicks too I guess had me pretty happy to see it.
March 23, 2008 12:35 PM Shweta Mehrotra Gahlawat said…
I'm heartbroken! Another potentially great movie gone to hell. I will watch it for Akshay though- fangirl loyalty etc.
March 23, 2008 12:47 PM Beth said…
ramchandra - I'm off to go read your review! I agree that Akshaye and Saif did well (though were not given much to work with/within). As for the drought, yeah, nothing is on my radar except Tashan.

Shweta - yep yep! And please do tell me if in some scenes he reminds you of a certain Sesame Street character.
March 23, 2008 1:03 PM Memsaab said…
I can pass on this one, but I can't wait for U, Me Aur Hum :-)
March 23, 2008 1:54 PM awww, that sucks that you went to all that trouble and it was for this movie. Well, buck up - Tashan is on its way. How much Anil Kapoor constitutes an overdose?
March 23, 2008 2:47 PM Memsaab - I know nothing about that one but if it comes my way, I'll see it!

indiequill - No trouble! It happened to come to my little town for a single showing, so of course I went. I'll see anything that the promoters are able to bring here because 1) a movie in the theater feels like a treat because it's relatively rare and 2) I want to boost the audience so they'll find it profitable to keep 'em comin'! I am definitely geeked for Tashan, Anil overdose notwithstanding. If he's got the dyed streaks, plays the fool, and gropes women twenty years younger, I think just one film could constitute a problematic amount.
March 23, 2008 8:24 PM Banno said…
Saw 'Race' last night. Came out with a headache. How much skin and bits of girls can you see? Got tired of all the boobs showing. And RD was gross, specially when he gropes Kitty. Yuck!!
March 24, 2008 1:52 AM It was very, very skin heavy. At one point I thought to myself that we were going to have to see Bips's bips, as it were. Ew.
March 24, 2008 8:27 AM U, Me, aur Hum is on my radar too. It's the new Ajay-Kajol flick directed by Ajay Devgan too. It's showing promise.

.. then Tashan, then Bhootnath

As for Race: I'm guessing you read & thought 'oh dear, he actually liked it' :-P
March 24, 2008 8:30 AM I haven't read anything about U, Me, aur Hum yet, but I'm intrigued.

As for Race, to each their own! :) I have only seen a handful of Abbas-Mustan's films (36 China Town, Humraaz, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (blech!), Baadshah, and Baazigar - Naqaab is on my list but only because of Akshaye) so I was interested in your discussion of Race within the larger context of the filmmakers' other projects.
March 24, 2008 8:43 AM *~mad munky~* said…
hmm...I've seen the ads, I think - is this the one with Katrina asking to be touched? My dear mother always changes the channel at that point :o)

Ooh - I finally watched another bolly flick after lord knows how many months (see my Munky Goes To Bollywood blog *shameless plug*)

March 24, 2008 9:16 AM mm, you've been in my feeds for ages :) And yeah, that song is a bit sleazoid. Your mom is right - run away!
March 24, 2008 9:21 AM Anu said…
ugh that was such a horrible movie. the only redeeming factor was saif shirtless.

the assasination scene with the guy ramming into bipashas car and then having his car damaged by that... ummm that's NOT going to help kill someone properly. you dont ram into things for the sake of doing that... i wanted to pull my hair out. however it was entertaining in a 'shut your brain off' way, which is always good

also, how expressionless was katrina kaif. her face doesn't register ANY emotion it seems
March 30, 2008 11:09 AM Indeed, it is hopelessly bad, with Saif and a few other random moments as the exceptions. I was so amused at Bipasha running through the parking garage - why didn't she go where his truck wouldn't fit, like down the pedestrian stairways? Gad. As for Katrina, I saw a funny blog post somewhere about her seeming to have confused smiling with acting. Hee.
March 30, 2008 7:22 PM Kristin said…
beth! i am in vienna and stuck inside all day, so i obviously had to catch up on creeping on your blog! about the confederate style flag- i've seen them a bunch of places around europe too. it's so weird!!!
April 02, 2008 5:09 AM i'm off to Vancouver! *whispers* and will be trying my hardest to track down a certain Jensen Ackles. *end of whisper*

April 02, 2008 5:38 AM my friend wanted to watch race again this weekend but thankfully the merciful powers that be stopped that from happening. however i did like saif a lot... random but needed to share
April 07, 2008 2:33 AM mm - how was the stalking?

Anu - So understandable. Saif was definitely a high point.
April 07, 2008 7:54 AM Jocelyn M. Berger said…
It might have been a predictable and typically ridiculous Bollywood movie, but Race will forever be in my heart. I had my silver screen debut as an extra in the scene with the Anil Kapur and Sameera Reddy with Bipasha and Akshaye in the office. ;-)
April 07, 2008 5:56 PM Awesome! Get down with your funky bad extra self! That is very cool - how was dear Akshaye in person? Did you get to talk to him? Eeee I'm getting more and more worked up as I type :)
April 07, 2008 6:21 PM