It's Friday, the 13th of July! It's a day when the film fraternity unveils their most "shocking" thriller. It's an anticipated extravagance from master filmmakers who have been pioneer in this genre for more than a decade. Colossal hype, melodious music and bankable face value are the major impressive factors that can muster a substantial opening for a film. However, the year 2007 is proving a waterloo for big budget entertainers and for Bobby Deol as the most "jinxed" actor. After the disasters of 'Shakalaka Boom Boom' and 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom', Abbas-Mastan's directed 'Naqaab' comes out as his third major disappointment that would certainly face the wrath and dislike of masses as well as critics.
Abbas-Mastan, the master craftsmen of thrillers, have failed miserably this time in delivering the needful. Like Bobby Deol's ridiculously delivered dialogue -- Hum Bina Story Ke Film Bana Rahe Hai..-- the film proves his dialogue true in every respect. How can experienced campaigners like Abbas-Mastan deliver such a mindless and monotonous film? Why Bobby Deol is picking and choosing spineless and poorly scripted characters? Was 'Naqaab' proposed to be 'Humraaz-2'? These are the few questions that will arise in every viewer's mind while watching this movie.
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'Naqaab' works somewhat similar to 'Humraaz' in terms of planning a plot for deceit, betrayal or trickery but with different characterizations and angles. 'Humraaz' shows Akshaye Khanna as the lover trying to materialize his love relationship in a crooked way. In 'Naqaab', he is made a scapegoat for treachery which is ultimately a plan plotted by his arch-rival Bobby Deol. The movie's weakest point lies in its writing and narration department. The poorly scripted story and screenplay (Shiraz Ahmed) shows the lack of professionalism in today's bunch of writers. Rather it's an amateurish act on the part of filmmakers to have selected such a mindless script and label it as "the most shocking thriller of the year". The characterizations are half baked and one could laugh at the way these principal characters behave in the climax of the film.
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'Naqaab' starts off with Sophie (Urvashi Sharma), a happy-go-lucky girl residing with her fiancée Karan (Bobby Deol) in his posh villa. Karan, a multi-millionaire business tycoon is a suave socialite who wants to marry Sophie but she has other plans. Finally, they plan to marry and the story turns when a struggling actor Vicky (Akshaye Khanna) enters her life. Sophie gets attracted to him and it results into their physical intimacy. Karan hires a special detective (Raj Zutshi) to monitor her moves but gets dejected with her treachery. Vicky is now a reformed man and wants to share the secrets behind his relationship with Sophie. Vicky has a painful past as a struggling actor as he is signed to play the second lead hero in a real life video where Sophie is the girl to be targeted.
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Rohit (Bobby in second role) holds all the threads of this deceitful plan along with two sub-ordinates (Vishal Malhotra and Vikas Kalantri). The identity of Rohit is unveiled as he is the master of the disguised who loved Sophie. Both Sophie and Vicky are shocked to know that their room was bugged and all their moves and acts were captured through hidden cameras. Rohit alias Karan has big plans of making it into a feature film and later releasing it at major film festivals. Their proposed film 'Naqaab' wins awards and laurels but the destiny takes another major turn when Rohit is shot by Karan at the awards function night. 'Naqaab' ends on an absurd note though it provides some chilling. However, it's a sub-standard product that would disappoint audiences.
'Naqaab' has many cracks and dents in its scripting and this can be labeled as one of the "weakest" offering from Abbas-Mastan in recent years. Major loopholes in the film really make this a sub-standard and shoddy work of filmmaking.
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In hot pursuit of winning international accolades, Bobby Deol, a cynical and hysterical business tycoon, plans to shoot a reality video by picking all bits and pieces of events and compiling together in a film titled 'Naqaab'. This sleazy act of deceit, lust and passion shot through cam-coder and video cameras wins laurels at the Cannes Film Festival and all other major festivals ( ? ) . Isn't this some kind of mockery of film festivals? Do sleazy films shot with hidden cameras hold any significance in the world of "quality cinema"? Certainly not!
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The reasons for a rich entrepreneur like Bobby Deol taking to shooting videos through hidden cameras and fulfilling his hysterical needs is the result of isolation he faced in his childhood because of his errant parents. This crudely planted climax scene evokes laughter rather than suspense or thrill in theatres This is a pity that it comes from Abbas-Mastan . Finally, the distasteful ending where Bobby is shot with fake bullets as an act of publicity gimmick to promote their film 'Naqaab' is the silliest aspect. The way it's conceived shows the poor vision of the director and the writer.
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A good thriller demands surprising twists "n" turns and an astonishing climax that should chill senses. 'Naqaab' works more like a rehashed version of Mahesh Bhatt's 'Murder' where an engaged or married woman is attracted to a stranger. These complicated relationships culminate into gory acts of deceit, intrigue and deception that end up in revenge. What's the novelty in it? Haven't we viewed dozens of such sleazy erotic thrillers during the recent past? The camera angles (cinematographer - Ravi Yadav) in suspenseful situations moves swiftly and delivers moments of "edge of seat" throb. Besides these techno-ecstatic moves, the background score (Salim-Sulaiman) works brilliantly in making it an Abbas-Mastan's style of thriller but the scripting is the biggest disappointment.
Pritam's melodious music is a major encouraging factor and the only relevant reason for the film to hope for a respectable opening. All soundtracks are beautifully harmonized in various situations and they strike uniformity with the script. Soundtracks like "Ek Din Teri Raahon Mein…" and "Aa Dil se Mila" are beautifully choreographed (Raju Khan) and they are the numbers that can be heard many times.
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Akshaye Khanna delivers a remarkable performance and his work is appreciable in emotional scenes, though dialogues need to be crisper in delivering humor or chill. His "salsa" dance in the song "Ek Din Teri Raahon Mein" is the highlight of the film. Bobby Deol is relegated to the second fiddle in the first half but makes a striking presence in the second half. It's a pity that the actor is supplied with another half-baked character that is poorly scripted and deficiently narrated. There was news that an astronomical amount is spent on his wardrobe but if the director could have given some significance or substance to his character, things would have been worked better. Newcomer Urvashi Sharma, a "Tips" video girl, strikes facial similarities with hot and seductive Udita Goswami. She has an attractive physique and delivers a decent performance. She has shed inhibitions by delivering erotic and kissing scenes but still needs to be groomed in acting department. Vishal Malhotra gets minimum scope while Vikas Kalantri hams throughout with silly expressions.
It's a big disappointment that "thriller" specialist Abbas-Mastan has come with ordinary concept like 'Naqaab' when innovative and ground-breaking ideas are hitting high in the marquee. The film can prosper in the first weekend due to its hyped publicity and melodious music but thereafter it might meet its fate. After Shaad Ali ('Jhoom Barabar Jhoom'), Nikhil Advani ('Salaam-e-Ishq') and Suneel Darshan ('Shakalaka Boom Boom'), it's a major failure from another credible and competent filmmaker and an immense displeasure for ever declining Bollywood's box office.
