Review : Bluffmaster

[amazon_link id=”B004UQLVXU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Above average (3.65/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 17 minutes
Director : Rohan Sippy
Cast : Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Riteish Deshmukh, Nana Patekar, Boman Irani

BLUFFASTER : Fast-paced and entertaining !

Directors today are trying on the con-man tack : make the hero a criminal, a good-hearted con-man, indulging in heists which involve sometimes simple, sometime complicated charades. There is ofcourse no murder, etc.; considering the guy has a heart of gold. Take Bunty aur Babli, as an example. And then take “Bluffmaster”. The common factor : Abhishek Bachhan. As a casual criminal with a saucy manner.

OK, so now we have con-man Roy (Bachhan), pretending to be legit. in front of his paramour Simmi (Priyanka Chopra). But, as it happens Simmi finds out the nasty truth, and that’s the end of that. Roy in another twist of fate is diagnosed with a fatal sickness, which promises to sink him in 3 months. Roy bereft of lady-love resolves to do one good thing before leaving this world, and that good thing is helping his apprentice Dittu (Ritesh) hoodwink the mobster (Patekar) who hurt his family.

Who gets conned and who doesn’t is the rest of the story . . .

Rohan Sippy has directed this film with panache – his education shows. “Kuch na kaho”, Sippy’s earlier presentation was nice, but not this nice. The scenes are snappy, with narrative cuts not commonly seen in our Hindi films. Another remarkable thing about this film is the gorgeous back-ground music, which makes every scene come alive. I mean in most average desi films, you have the standard background tune, repeated in each and every film. Not here though. The screen-play is fine, but the dialogues are a bit too filmi. The only problem I had with the story was with the believability – how plausible is it really ? If you leave that part out, the film is good fun.

Abhishek is very good in another “Bunty” like role, this time hogging the lime-light (no Rani to contend with). Priyanka looks good, but doen’t improve on her acting. And Riteish is pretty hammy. Patekar is his usual psycho self – which is great for the role. Irani as Roy’s doctor is dissapointing, or maybe it was his role. The film has good songs, with foot-tapping numbers like “say-na, say-na”, and remixes like “Sabse bada rupaiyya”. The British group Trickbaby has a couple of songs, and although I don’t like Trickbaby too much, their songs seemed to fit right in.