JointScene: "Shortcut - The Con Is On" had everything going right for it - famous composers, best lyricist and talented singers like Alka Yagnik and Sonu Niigaam going behind the mike. Yet the music of the film is not as interesting as one expected.
The soundtrack of the film - an Anil Kapoor production starring Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao - entails four originals and two remixes.
"Kal nau baje", a melodious romantic number, is crooned by Sonu Niigaam and Alka Yagnik. Soft music and vocals by two experienced and talented singers are the high points of the song. It has the potential to stay with the listener even after the song is over.
Up next is "Kyun hota hai dil deewana" and it is sung by Javed Ali and Shreya Ghosal. The song has traces of qawalli music but it's not very prominent. It's foot-tapping, high on beats and does appeal for some time but lacks in holding the interest for long. The lyrics are nothing extraordinary.
"Mareeze mohabbat", a fusion of rustic and western influences, is different owing to its sudden break from Indian music to western and back to Indian during the course of the song.
The track is sung by Sonu Niigaam's sister Nikita Nigam along with Kiri Sagathia, Hrishikesh Kamerkar and Shankar Mahadevan. With touches of English rap interlinked with Indian touches, the song does have a potential to impress the listener.
The song also has a remixed version, making the already fast-paced song fit for the dance floor.
Finally, we have the title track of the film "Patli gali", sung by Shanker Mahadevan. The song, which has psychedelic and electronic beats in abundance, somehow lacks the punch and the quality to garner the attention of the listener. The song has lyrics which are quite unlike Javed Akhter's work.
The remix version of the song does no good for the original.
Compositions by the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy always reinforce one's faith in good music as they don't shy away from experimenting. However, the composers have not gone that extra mile for the album of " Shortcut - The Con Is On". The music is not bad, yet it is not as good as their earlier work.
JointScene: Think of Arshad Warsi and a smile comes to one's face instantly courtesy his immaculate comic timing. The actor is once again is set to entertain audiences along with Akshaye Khanna in “Short Kut - The Con Is On” that releases Friday.
Already on fire, courtesy Kabir Khan's “New York” and Sabbir Khan's “Kambakkht Ishq”, the box office just might be able to move to the next gear with the comedy.
Anil Kapoor's third production, “Short cut - The Con Is On” has been directed by Neeraj Vora and stars Amrita Rao in female lead.
The film is actually a remake of Roshan Andrews' Malayalam movie "Udayananu Tharam". Initially written in Hindi by Anees Bazmee, the script was improvised by Vora on Anil's request.
Set in Bollywood, the film is about two strugglers - Raju (Arshad) who makes it big as a superstar after stealing a script and Shekhar (Akshaye) who continues to struggle as a writer-director after his script gets stolen.
Things take a comic turn when Mansi (Amrita), a leading actress, marries Akshaye, but gets involved professionally with Arshad. Fun-on-the-run ensues when Shekhar has to direct his debut film with Raju in the lead.
"The film is actually not an out and out comedy...it's got a story and it's dramatic. But I bring in the humour in the film despite the fact that I am the villain and I play a bad guy. Akshaye and Amrita are the hero and heroine in the film,” Arshad told IANS.
The film will see Amrita in her glamorous avatar.
Commenting upon her makeover, she said: “I'm playing an actress in the film. Neeraj Vora wanted to highlight the personal life of an actress through my character...I wanted to do something different with the styling of this character and so the new look."
Not many know that Anil was to play Akshaye role in the film.
“I'm playing a struggling assistant who wants to become a successful director. Earlier Anil was supposed to do my role and I was to do Arshad's but later he decided just to produce it and not to get into acting,” said Akshaye.
On the music front, composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have failed to strike chords for the audiences.
While, the promos of the film are looking worth watching, but Vora said that "it is to be seen if 'Short Kut...' manages to make its mark in the league of Bollywood comedies."
--Indo-Asian News Service
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JointScene: A good tale gone badly, the story begins with the backdrop of the film industry and here are two men trying to make their mark. While one is Shekhar (Akshaye) who has got a good script and wants to become a director, the other is Raju (Arshad) who is not so talented but aspires to be a superstar. Things take a turn when Raju steals the script of Shekhar and luck favors him, he becomes a superstar while Shekhar is still struggling. However, Shekhar gets his chance when the top heroine Mansi (Amrita) falls in love with him and they get married. A twist of events happens and Shekhar lands up with a project wherein he has to direct Raju. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.
The director has come up with an interesting storyline but then he could not sustain due to poor narration. The presentation part was alright with an okay cinematography and art department. However, the dialogues were dull, the script was weak and the screenplay was ineffective. Music could not do much and editing could have been better. Akshaye Khanna did his best to give life to the role but his character was etched poorly. Arshad gave few light moments and he is good. Amrita has shown her oomph facto in a big way and this was a good visual feast. Chunky Pandey was impressive, Haider Ali is okay, Ali Asgar was not good, Siddarth was over dramatic, Simi Garewal was graceful.
The film happens to be a remake of the Malayalam super hit 'Udhayanu Tharam' but then the original flavor was not induced into this one completely. While the start of the film is good and holds a lot of promise, the venture tends to go weak with each passing minute. It must be said that the writing lost direction at one point and since then it was a roll down the slope. Though there were few good moments, overall the film fails to engage the audience. This will fizzle out in no time.
JointScene: "Short Kut" was not a bad film to begin with. It was probably a terrific idea for a comedy of misguided zeal - a hammy actor, Arshad Warsi, stealing a struggling scriptwriter Akshaye Khanna's great plot and becoming a superstar.
But in the absence of motivated mirth, the comedy just plunges out of control and is navigated entirely by the comic capabilities of Arshad Warsi.
Arshad plays that nightmare of every entertainment industry... He can effortlessly go over the top while hamming.
"Short Kut" was probably an idea that got lost in translation. There are signs of sparkle that fizzle out as the film progresses. Where we expect a torrent of laughter we get a drizzle of mild humour.
Some interludes are no doubt funny...like when during shooting 'superstar' Arshad keeps messing up his line, a cute assistant director finally rolls down by his feet and mumbles the lines in understudied sarcasm.
Where are more such moments in this melee of misapprehended mirth? Where are the satirical jibes at the workings of the Indian film industry that would have elevated the comedy into more than what it finally is? A truncated travesty with very little to recommend except some tongue-in-cheek digs at the cult of megalomaniacal stardom.
The film seems to have been made at a cut-price budget. Posh hotel rooms are suggested with labels pinned on hastily to doors that probably belong to a lodge. The Thai outdoors come on towards the end in a breathless and quite absurd climax on top of a bridge where a starlet falls to her death.
"Short Kut" works neither as burlesque nor high-action.
Ennui is often a poor replacement in the plot for episodic splendour. Arshad Warsi's tongue-in-cheek performance as the cheesy superstar holds the plot together. But not long enough for us to forget that "Short Kut" is trying to be funny when the characters are far from comfortable in the zany zone that they never quite own.
And what pray are Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor doing in one of the tackiest item songs one has seen in recent times?
The makers of "Short Kut" don't even know how to spell 'cut' let alone cut the film into a shape that can be considered entertaining, let alone enticing.
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