Sunday, 19 December 2021

Kaante 20th December 2002

Kaante completes 19 years today.
A look at the movie .
Based on the story of six bank robbers, Kaante is the Indianized rehash of Quentin Tarantino's hit Hollywood potboiler Reservoir Dogs. The film takes off with the release from the prison of a veteran gangster called Major (Amitabh). Major is tired of life behind the bars. And, instead of reforming, he plans to pull off a grand heist and rest on his laurels for the remainder of his life. So he hatches a meticulous plan to rob a bank and decides to team up with five more accomplices. The first one to tag along is Ajju (Sanjay Dutt), a notorious chap who has had some experience in robbing banks. And soon others come along. They are – Baali (Mahesh Manjrekar) a drug addict, Bouncer (Sunil Shetty) a quiet but dangerous man, and Mak (Lucky Ali) a cool dude with a who-cares attitude. The sixth man Andy (Kumar Gaurav) . The six men assume different identities and names to prevent the plan from leaking out. But someone has already spilled the beans. The D-Day comes when the six get into the bank and rob it at gunpoint. But before they could get away, police arrives and a shootout follows. Somehow the six manage to escape and meet again in a dilapidated warehouse.There, they try to figure out which member of the crew tipped off the police.
Every track in the plot flows as seamlessly and naturally as one can imagine. None of the tracks are forced and each character and storyline maintains a constant level of conviction. A thriller having little comic or romantic respite.The comedy comes naturally from the dialogs (Mahesh Manjrekhar and Sanjay Dutt are hilarious at times), the glamour is built in and not tacked on (Isha Koppikar and Malaika Arora are quite relevant to the plot), and the action is not forced but artistic in presentation.It is this successful integration of Bollywood conventions into a completely unorthodox storyline and presentation that makes Kaante outstanding in the context of Indian commercial cinema. The film is from an unlikely genre, it was shot abroad (Los Angeles) on an international scale, it is consistent in plot and tone, but still caters to audiences exceptionally well.
Technically very fluent director Sanjay Gupta has done a marvelous job.
Performances are brilliant from all the lead players. Each one has an equally weighted role to play here, and they compliment each other perfectly. There is no one show stealer. Let's go one by one
Amitabh Bachchan is superb in his role, as expected. He overflows with style but manages to keep his character vulnerable and human. He is perfectly cast as the brilliant, desperate, forceful and towering leader of the pack.
Sanjay Dutt is incredible as well. He plays his character with a disturbing undercurrent of insanity and the result is one of his best performances.
Mahesh Manjrekar is excellent. In fact, he steals some of the best scenes in the film. As a reckless drug addict, he is both side-splittingly funny and touchingly emotional.
Suneil Shetty is in his element once again, and reminds everyone that he is a performer to be reckoned with. His coolly reserved performance hits all the right notes.
Lucky Ali is impactful. He doesn´t mouth many Dialogue, but his body language and mysterious eyes always make his presence felt.
Kumar Gaurav is also impressive, especially considering he was acting after a decade or so.
Supporting artists are alright.
Malaika Arora is stunningly gorgeous in her dance numbers and scenes, and manages to evoke emotion in the few scenes she shares with Suneil.
Rati Agnihotri is proficient, but has very little screen time.
If there is one jarring performance in the film, it comes from Gulshan Grover. He overacts inhis scenes.
Isha Koppikar is great in her dance number appearance.
Overall, Kaante is well made and a must-watch. This is a thriller that has only one goal; that is, to thrill audiences and keep them glued till the last frame. And the film manages to accomplish this feat remarkably well.

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