Kaminey: Original but definitely not sublime!

It has to speak for the movie's reputation when people are willing to brave the night show after spending the whole day frolicking on the beach. It is also one of the reason I came out of the hall thinking "ok, this was good but whats the whole hallu ballu about?" I agree it was better then the usual crime movie fare stuffed down our throat by bollywood. It's also somewhat unique in its half-half combo of dirty gritty drama and funny sarcastic wit. But it is not a movie that I would want to watch again and again as most of the movie critics are dictating. Its good, but not thaaaaat great. However, it is worth watching once and I am sure many of the viewers will disagree with me. Its possible that I went with too high an expectation.

Coming to the movie its a new twist on a old theme. Basic premise, two brothers with characters as different as day and night which is funnily signified by their dreams - one wants to be a bookie and other one wants to finish his degree and get a job. And no they weren't separated at birth but rather drifted apart due to circumstances. Here I should give due credit to Shahid, he did well enough as the brother on the dark side. Guddu the good brother is more like the Shahid we see generally, so the contrasting portrayal of Charlie the race fixer was quite good. However, the effect was not as shocking as Saif's Langra Tyagi in Omkara.

The story, as it has been advertised, is of around 24 hours or a little more. Both brothers are drawn into one single incident owing to a complicated and incidental chain of events, which was expected. The movie runs at quite a good pace and doesn't bore you. But it definitely didn't keep me at the edge of my seat with anticipation.

One good thing I really appreciate is that there is no unnecessarily added comics bits. All the laugh is part of the sarcastic dialogue and settings and the basis of the story - life is full of Kaminey.

For me, the movie shines though through the superb acting of the various villains - Bhope who touts the same lines as Raj Thakery, the customary corrupt cop duo, Tashi - the cigar smoking foreign villain and last but not the last the Bengali bookie brothers who sum up the super villain cast. I specially loved the Bong crooks with their bong dialogues and crazy attitude, even though they must have had about 15 minutes of screen time in all. 

Last but not the least, Priyanka is a hoot in her character as a fire brand marathi girl, who knows how to get what she wants and even protect it with equal gusto. Her dialogues are sharp and she did justice to her role, I felt. All in all the movie was going quite well, until the end when it seemed a little more then necessary "formula" was applied. I would have preferred a little more twist and punch at the end. Oh well, watch it once at least.