Down down down...meter down

   friend: movie ?
   me: which ?
   friend: any..
   me: ok...meet you at 9.30

    !

We got the tickets of Taxi No. 9211 ( read nauv-do-gyaraah ). By luck i should say, cause getting a ticket at runtime has become awfully difficult in theatres around Pune. As i have said here earlier, the ratio of good ones to bad is very low, so i had was ready with "lowered expectations" ( anybody sees MadTV ?).

The film started with a narration given by Sanjay Dutt, his voice is surprisingly suitable for such purposes. Theres a scene where the two main characters of the film, Nana Patekar, the taxi driver and John Abraham, the rich spoilt kid meet. It becomes the starting point of 3 stories, the taxi driver's, the rich lafoon and the third story where they both feature in. The film kicks of with speed and panache.

What then follows is how the guys end up beating each others fate right within a span of 2 days. The story is different and so is the script. Dialogues given to Nana rock. The makers have cashed in Nana's full potential at playing a Marathi, habitually frustrated cab driver. And he essays the role with all his flavour. John Abraham doesn't fall apart and stands-in for every scene. Sonali Kulkarni is great as the wife of the driver, and compliments Nana's role very well.

The director, Milan Luthria who earlier made movies like Kacche Dhaage and Deewar, that though very differently made were duds, gets it all right in this one. The film's USP is the length of 2 hours. It stays away from using masala songs while in the midst of the story and that works for the film.

The sound tracks, "Bambai Nagariya" and "Meter Down" are good, and they have been used without interefering. Paisa vasool.

Category [ _Film_ ] [ _Review_ ]