New Int'l. Release

Tashan

 (India)

By DEREK ELLEY

A Yash Raj Films release and production. (International sales: Yash Raj, Mumbai.) Produced by Aditya Chopra. Executive producers, Aashish Singh, Sanjay Shivalkar. Directed, written by Vijay Krishna Acharya.
 
With: Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Yashpal Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra.
 

Yash Raj's quality-control department seems asleep at the switch in the high-gloss caper-actioner "Tashan," the Mumbai mini-major's latest star-laden vehicle. Starting out with a playful first hour that makes the most of its high-attitude cast, directorial debut by writer Vijay Krishna Acharya seriously jumps the rails post-intermission with messy action and plotting that recall the dumbest elements of Acharya's earlier scripts ("Dhoom," "Dhoom:2"). April 25 release has performed dully so far but should recoup some lost coin on ancillary.

Plot spins around a cocky call-center exec, Jimmy Cliff (Saif Ali Khan), who's seduced by the pouty Pooja (Kareena Kapoor, full-bore sexy) into teaching English to her sleazebag gangster boss, Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor). He then helps her run off with $6 million of the latter's money. Duo end up pursued by both Bhaiyyaji and his hired muscle, wannabe gangster Bachchan Pandey (Akshay Kumar), who finally teams with the pair in a complex web of double-crosses. Final hour, with some way-out, Sergio Leone-like action, is all over the map. Khan (especially) and Kumar keep the movie watchable but are shanghaied by the increasingly chaotic script. Songs are eye-catching but musically blah.

Camera (color, widescreen), Ayananka Bose; editor, Rameshwar Bhagat; background music, Ranjit Barot; song music, Vishal-Shekhar; lyrics, Piyush Mishra, Anvita Dutt Guptan, Vishal Dadlani, Kausar Munir; art director, Sukant Panigrahy; costume designer, Aki Narula; choreographer, Vaibhavi Merchant. Reviewed at Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue 2, London, April 29, 2008. Hindi dialogue. Running time: 146 MIN. (I: 60 MIN.; II: 86 MIN.)