Aa Dekhen Zara- The Title Sums up the Movie

After a reasonably impressive debut with Johny Gaddar, Neil Nitin Mukesh is back with Aa Dekhen Zara (ADZ from hereon). Directed by Jehangir Surti, this one is a thriller too with an interesting premise. But does it deliver and does it turn out to be that summer cool flick you’ve been waiting for? Well read on to know more. One of the movies that a lot of us as kids loved in the 80’s was Mr. India (of course doesn’t apply to people here born after 1987, the year of Mr.India’s release). The movie was all about Arun Verma ( Anil Kapoor) a simpleton who houses a lot of orphans & one day discovers his late father has left behind an inheritance – a watch like article which can make one invisible. Thus Arun Verma becomes Mr.India and there’s the evil Mogambo (Amrish Puri) to take care off.


Wait- isn’t this a review of ADZ? Why am I mentioning Mr. India here? Well no I haven’t gone bonkers; I seriously feel somebody associated with ADZ has certainly been influenced with Mr. India. ADZ is all about Ray Acharya (Neil) who’s a freelance photographer specializing in wildlife photography. One day he gets to know that his grandfather (yesteryear hero Biswajeet seen after ages) is dead and that he’s left behind a camera for him. What’s special about the camera is that it can help you glimpse the future. A down and out Roy then decides to take advantage of the camera and uses its power to make money the short way- lottery, horse racing, stocks and so on. He gets so caught up in the circle of making money that he hardly has any time for his girlfriend, Simi Chatterjee ( Bipasha Basu ) a DJ & a wannabe singer.

But as always all good things need to come to an end. So you have not just a mysterious 'captain' (Rahul Dev) who is gunning for him but there's also India's RAW who wants
the camera in the name of National Security. Thus begins a routine cat and mouse game which sees the action shifting from Mumbai to Bangkok. What starts off interesting
enough slowly turns out to be a run of the mill affair.

Into the 2nd half as the events unfold you keep wondering why are things happening like this. Why on earth is there a need to break into an item number when the chips are down? What’s the back-story of 'captain'? And if this is the way RAW would handle a matter of National Security, it makes me really cringe.Jehangir Surti has made a stylish movie and the story thankfully doesn’t lose its pace. Starting with the opening credits rolling brilliantly against the strain of the title track to the slick camera work (Jehangir Chowdhary) and fast pace of the movie, the tempo is well built. Ray portrayed by Neil is a believable character and thankfully the romantic moments are not a deterrent to the pace of the movie.

Which brings us to the actual star of the move- the pace and the the running length. At a shade under 2 hours, you don’t feel the time lost and thankfully Surti scores here.
If only the screenplay (Sheershak Anand & Shantanu Ray Chibber) offered more meat in the 2nd half, the movie could have actually been a fine thriller. Music by Gaurav Dasgupta and Pritam is decent but nothing great. Neil certainly has potential no doubt and he is reasonably earnest in the movie. For Bipasha the role is hardly a challenge. All said and done its not the worst movie in recent times, go for it if all you want is to have a decent time at the movies to brave the summer heat.

Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/aa-dekhen-zara-the-title-sums-up-the-movie/