In the present times when we have some outstanding and well directed crime & mystery serials being served in our homes on daily basis, it becomes very tough to come up with an equally great film in the same genre. Hugely famous series such as C.S.I. has raised the standard of this genre to such heights which now seems to be quite unbeatable especially in our part of the world.
And that's the major reason why GAME the latest flick starring Abhishek Bachchan in lead under the debut direction of Abhinay Deo fails entirely and is a great disappointment from its makers. The director seems to be a big fan of foreign thriller films, their production values and their cinematography. But in his awe of the western film-makers, he forgets about the major basic requirement of his project, which has to be a descent & an engaging script. It's not an easy job to make a Who Done It film today, because the people are so impatient that they at once want to jump to the last page (or climax) of the book to know the secret.
Moreover a murder mystery has to be fast, interesting, entertaining and surprising all together in its short duration of 2 hours essentially. And in absence of any of these above mentioned elements you cannot win over the audiences, who already have much more solid stuff coming on their home televisions every day.
Bollywood's old murder mysteries before the 80s had a fine blend of action, suspense, romance and comedy in them which still remain enjoyable till date. But we have lost that golden touch amongst today's glamour and grandeur, which is no doubt sad as well as unavoidable at the same time. So keeping the same framework in mind, GAME also tries to put everything together in one pot which unfortunately makes the dish completely distasteful and a waste. The film neither has got the required pace nor the excitement which is a must for a film made in this particular genre.
Starting with the same kind of setup as seen in the recent LUCK and the oldieSHALIMAR, it takes off nicely but then goes too slow and becomes boring within the first 40 minutes itself. The story developments are not able to engage you at all and one keeps waiting for something great to happen on the screen right till the climax. In short, nothing in GAME impresses you and post intermission one simply feels like wasting his time in the theater helplessly. The songs are all below average with a little relief provided by the background score. Cinematography capturing all the foreign outdoors is excellent, but if the director thinks that by only showing some great virgin locations and stunning chase sequences he can win over the viewers, then he really needs to work upon his art a lot more. In simple words, we are there in the theater for the film and its entertainment but not for some tourist site seeing on the big screen. Besides the characters moving within Mumbai, Bangkok, Istanbul with such an ease and in a STAR-TREK kind of time frame is quite bizarre.
Then there are some huge problems in the casting and performance department of the film. Like I simply coudn't understand what was there in the script, especially written for any of its four ladies. First of all Sarah Jane Diaz does nothing other than some Skin Show and changing costumes in her debut movie. Secondly, Kangna as an international police detective looks like a big misfit who overacts and also puts in a lot of visible effort to deliver her dialogues in English. Thirdly, Gauhar Khan is fine but she is only there in the start and end of the movie, taking a leave in between. And lastly Shahana Goswami, the most talented among the four is completely wasted by the director in a very silly manner.
Coming to the men in GAME, surprisingly here too we have a lot of talent wasted by the writers because they don't have anything great to give to any of the talented males in the script. Jimmy Shiergill is only there for the namesake and doesn't even have some descent dialogues. Boman Irani for the first time does it over the top with a lot of shouting than acting. Both Mohan Kapur and Benjamin Gilani have only one or two scenes.
Among the big ones, Anupam Kher doesn't get any scope in the script and is only dressed well in his opening scene. But I have some serious advice to give to Abhishek Bachchan. In this competitive world, if you only concentrate on your performance and don't care about the other aspects of film-making, like its script, direction and story progression, then you do need to give it a second thought urgently. Abhishek's performance in the film is fine, but as I said earlier who goes to watch a film for only one performance or for only its cinematography? Yes, In India, we do go for a film if it has some HIT songs, but not if it only has some worth watching solo-act, photography or good foreign locations. So, Abhishek desperately needs to work on his choice of films, his directors and in clear words should stop saying yes to the projects put forward by some dear friends and acquaintances.
Summing up, I would like to add that don't go for this movie only looking at its inviting title assuming that it will offer some real cunning games for your thinking mind. Instead go for the English Flick with a similar title "THE GAME" starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn which will sure give your grey cells a real tough time.
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