http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_Review.aspx?id=442&showid=322
pecial: Blue
According to media reports, Blue cost between Rs 80-100 crore and is the most
expensive Hindi film ever made. The crew includes two Oscar winners--composer
AR Rahman and sound designer Resul Pookutty; pop star Kylie Minogue; Pete
Zucarini, the underwater director of photography from Pirates of the Caribbean;
and a host of stars including Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan and Lara
Dutta.
So, what is the end result of all this money and talent? An incredibly
dim-witted underwater thriller that has the most unintentionally hilarious
climax since Imran Khan survived a bullet to the chest in Luck because his
heart happened to be on the right side instead of the left. The underwater
thriller is a formula that Hollywood has been mining for decades.
Think The Deep in 1977 or the more recent Into The Blue. You combine the
dangers of the deep sea with untold riches lying beneath the shifting sands
with women in various stages of undress and men who will kill to get their
hands on the gold. This isn’t rocketscience but debutant director Anthony
D’Souza just can’t seem to get his hands around it.
Anthony has a drop-dead gorgeous location, the Bahamas; some beautiful
underwater shots; nicely done motor-cycle chases; and Lara Dutta looking like a
million bucks but none of this hangs together because he doesn’t have a script.
Sanjay plays Sagar, a skilled diver with a laughably large paunch, who lives in
the Bahamas. He befriends Aarav, played by Akshay, who is rich and obsessed
with finding the treasure lying in a sunken ship called Lady in Blue.
Sagar looks lethargic and grossly unfit but he is apparently the only diver in
the world who can unearth the treasure. He refuses to do so because his father
died in a diving accident on the ship. However when his younger brother gets
entangled with some bad guys in Bangkok, Sagar has to reconsider his decision
and retrieve the treasure. In the first 15 minutes of the film, Anthony
establishes that all his heroes are Alpha Males – Aarav and Sagar wrestle a
shark and the younger brother burns up the Bangkok roads on his bike. And just
in case you still don’t get the super-cool attitude, Aarav declares: Duniya ka
sabse bada nasha: risk. But the whole first half of the film is just the set
up.
Nobody goes near the ship. And when they eventually do, they find the treasure
with such ease, that you wonder why nobody else did it before them.
Incidentally the chest has been lying underwater for over 50 years but the gold
is still strikingly shiny.
The film’s absolute lack of logic is compounded by the low IQ dialogue. In the
middle of a murderous gun battle, Lara Dutta screams at Sanjay: Kya Kar Rahe
Ho. Baat Cheet Se Har Baat Solve Ho Sakti Hai. The actors supposedly went
through intensivetraining for the under-water sequences but on ground, they
seem to be on a paidvacation. Akshay, sporting a grey goatee, grins madly but
at least he is in shape.
Sanjay sleep-walks through the role, perhaps hoping that viewers won’t notice
the bulge beneath the wetsuit. Zayed spends a lot of time with his face hidden
behind a motorcycle helmet, which is just as well because his emoting needs
serious work. Clearly Anthony D’Souza has ambition. He set out to give Indian
audiences a new type of exotic thriller. But he got so busy orchestrating the
king-sized stars, the equally big sharks and the blinding bling of the film
that he forgot the basic connective tissue: the script.
Blue is all washed up. See it if you must.
