Review : Taxi No. 9211

Rating : Above average (3.85/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs and 56 minutes
Director : Milan Luthria
Cast : Nana Patekar, John Abraham, Sameera Reddy, Sonali Kulkarni, Shivaji Satam, Ritesh Deshmukh, Kurush Deboo

TAXI No. 9211 : A DEFINITE ENTERTAINER !

This film I enjoyed, despite the fact that it’s based upon a Hollywood film, and despite the fact that when people go around aping Western stories, they generally make a mess of the film. Taxi-No-9211 is different because although the essence is the same (2 guys bent on retribution, and the red haze doesn’t help), it’s sufficiently Indianised with a good old dose of desi morals, and no overt preaching. This is one more film, where instead of the usual boy-meets-girl routine, you actually have a story. Yeah, the story is borrowed, but what the heck – it’s told well, and makes a decent entertainer

Taxi No. 9211 is based upon the Hollywood flick “Changing lanes”, a chance encounter between 2 unknown parties, in this case an arrogant, rich wastrel Jai Mittal (Abraham) about to lose his millions, and an irate, ill-tempered cabbie Raghav Shastri (Patekar). Jai is fighting a court case to get back the millions his dead father has willed to his best friend (Shivaji Sattam), and in a hurry to reach court he takes a cab. He urges the cabbie to drive faster and faster with money, and when there is an accident slips away quietly, leaving Raghav in the lurch. However he accidentally leaves a very important key in the cab.

Raghav is harassed by the police, humiliated, and his wife leaves. Now he’s bent on revenge and it’s all-out war between him and Jai . . .

Acting is good. Patekar plays what he plays best : a borderline psycho. Sonali Kulkarni is very effective as his troubled wife. John Abraham improves his acting here; he seems to get better in every film – in 10 years his films will be a treat to watch ! But, seriously he does relatively well in this young, urban role. Sameera Reddy plays his girlfriend – the girlfriend who looks forward to sharing the riches his Dad’s left him, and while she does OK, her character lacks the spark to get her out of the starlet rut. Besides, she’s gotten chubby. Priyanka Chopra appears in a 2 minute role, and her screen time is felt and remembered, and the director, with the help of some great nostalgic filmi music succeeds in milking that 2 bit appearance with John for all it’s worth. Nicely done – I couldn’t help smiling !

Music is good, with the “Meter down” number probably the best – appeared at the end of the film (on DVD). Direction is good and there are no obvious slip-ups.
A good watch – fulfills it’s entertainment promise.