Game Review

'Game' could well be considered as amalgamation of two different styles of film making coming together. While the first half belongs to 'this-is-indeed-serious-business' variety for the mature/thinking audience, the second half takes a comic book approach which is more appealing to teenagers and youth.

Just like 'Race' where Abbas-Mustan didn't take time in opening their cards, even 'Game' has Abhinay Deo setting the basic premise of the film within first 20-25 minutes. One would have expected that Anupam Kher would reveal the reason behind calling four absolute strangers - Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Jimmy Shergill and Shahana Goswami - only towards the interval point. However there is no time wasted in not just revealing the background of these characters but also the chilling flashback (featuring Sarah Jane Dias) that started it all.

Just when audience starts wondering whether Abhinay had revealed it all too soon too fast, a murder takes place that further deepens the mystery. Arrival of Kangna - an investigating officer - on the scene further perks up the drama. A series of murders and suicides start taking place that only thickens the plot. One of the most interesting sequences here is the one where Boman Irani is trapped via a sting operation.

Of course there are quite a few cinematic liberties being taken which makes one feel like watching a comic book affair. At one moment the characters are in Mumbai, the second moment they are in London and then there are flashbacks being interspersed where drama moves to Istanbul. Really, at some points here it becomes difficult to keep track of the series of events.

This is where the fast paced approach by Abhinay comes into picture. Especially towards the last 20 minutes of the film, there are twists and turns practically every 5 minutes which, though interesting, seem a little too simplistic to be enjoying every practical reasoning.

Nevertheless, as stated earlier, by this time around you know that the film was never meant to be taken too seriously. An attempt was basically to make a cool good looking film and in this endeavour, 'Game' indeed succeeds. The same cannot be said though about the music of the film which turns out to be a big yawn on screen. Also at times the film gets bogged down during the flashback portions featuring elements of love story between Abhishek and Sarah.

Abhishek dominates the proceedings as he boasts of some smart dialogues and body language. He is pretty much at ease playing a cool and matured man here. Sarah makes a decent debut though she doesn't quite get much scope. Kangna is strictly okay. Boman Irani is good. Jimmy suffers from an ill sketched part. Shahana is hardly there while Gauhar Khan has limited presence in the film. Anupam Kher eats up everyone around in each of his major scenes in the film.

The beginning portions of 'Game' give an impression of a really intriguing suspense drama in the offing while as the film nears it's culmination, it appears as if the overzealous writer wanted to bring out all tricks from his magic bag. Result? A film which could have been better off had it stuck to one style of narrative but turns out to be reasonably entertaining nonetheless.

Rating: ***