Vijay Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) has obsessively dedicated his entire life to the Vilas Jefferson bank - and when he is fired for brutally assaulting another employee, he comes up with a diabolical plan to avenge himself by robbing his own bank. Rajput hires 3 henchmen to pull off the heist - the twist, the 3 hired hands - Vishwas, Arjun & Ilias (Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal & Paresh Rawal respectively) are all blind. Neha (Sushmita Sen), a teacher at a blind school, is coerced into training the team. And so begins a dangerous game...
As can be expected, the 3 thieves-to-be have a long way to go before they can actually go loot the bank - and while the training sessions are a little repetitive, they are also necessary - not only does this screen time emphasize the blood, sweat and tears aspect of this 'workshop', the audience also gets to see the budding camaraderie within the team and also with Neha. This is what I want to see in a heist film - the actual planning, the hows, and the whens, and the ironing out of kinks by practicing over and over again - totally not needed are slomo shots of the thief leaving the scene of crime in a blaze of glory - are you listening, SRK and Aamir?
And even after all the dry-runs, the actual robbery is nail-bitingly tense - will they pull it off, and more important, what does Rajput have in store for the trio after the robbery? And the tension doesn't end there - the story skids off in a totally different direction, hurtling along at breakneck speed, not at all what I was expecting. Doesn't take too long for things to start going downhill and Rajput soon finds himself in a precarious position - his meticulously woven web of intrigue in tatters. The ending, too, is startlingly ambiguous....please, please tell me there's going to be a sequel!
The casting is spot-on - Amitabh steals the show with his menacing Rajput, but Akshay Kumar is a close second - he has the body language of a blind person down perfectly! Paresh Rawal, as always, is in a class of his own - his wise-cracks are a much needed dose of levity in this drama! Sushmita Sen - I'm always partial to her - she comes across as so sensible and intelligent, and her tightrope act between professionalism and her grief, especially at the climax - an awesome performance! Arjun Rampal - meh! A pretty face and nothing much else - it's a good thing that all the others are so strong!!
This film is based on a popular Gujarati play - so understandably, the script is a star here. Tightly written, no loopholes, no loose ends - very coherent, very precise. I especially loved the word play on the names of the characters - Neha - eyes - what better name for a teacher of blind? Vishwas - trust - for the person who trusts the least? Arjun - the archer - for the most lousy shot? Rajput - a synonym for upright honesty - as the most crooked crook? I'm hoping this was intentional - in either case, absolutely loved it!! A world away from naming the main lead 'Charlie', so his team can later be referred to as the 'Charlie's Angels' - really, Farah Khan??!!
To wrap up - skip Happy New Year - watch Aankhen instead! Happy viewing!!
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