A thrill ride

 

 

After a tepid last outing (Naqaab), director duo Abbas-Mustan are back at doing what they do best – weaving an entertaining tale of intrigue, deceit and lies with unpredictable twists. 2008 has its first bonafide thriller from Bollywood which, though not exactly a masterpiece, does set your pulse racing. The directors put the basics in place – exotic backdrop (race horse breeding and gambling), enticing locales (South Africa; Durban, to be precise) and an exciting cast (Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu light up the screen with their hot bods!) and the machinations of a murder mystery start rolling. Rajiv Singh (Akshaye Khanna) and Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) are brothers and big brother Ranvir breeds race horses for a profession. But Rajiv is tired of playing second fiddle to Ranvir and little bro decides to win the final ‘race’ of life by eliminating big bro and pocketing the $100 million in insurance money. A death does occur, but who’s playing who? Therein lies the rub of Race. The second half sees Anil Kapoor lending some spice with his nutty portrayal of Inspector Robert D’Costa and his wisecracks do work decently. Even Sameera Reddy is half decent as his dim-witted assistant. Apart from the most inconveniently and irritatingly placed songs and blatant insults of the average viewer’s intelligence at times, Race works as a thriller, which manages to hold your attention. And like me, if you predict some of the turns before they arrive, at least try to act surprised. If not, great, go ahead and enjoy a great ride!