Teen Patti Review

What is it all about?

`Teen Patti' is a huge corporate blunder but what is more disturbing is to see two stalwarts of acting Big B and Sir Ben Kinsley coming together on screen and absolutely doing nothing for the viewers and more depressing is to see Sir Ben Kinsley doing a mere listening act.

Money, money its so funny ahha.. Anyways Leena Yadav's `Teen Pattti' coming after `Shabd' which made many go `speechless' after watching it maintains its insanity giving a perfect example of a movie which by calling it bad is an understatement `probably' unnecessary should be the right word.

Movies centered around gambling has been a routine in west, Bollywood has had it stories on playing cards like `Baazi' and `Shree 420' but they where not thrillers so a good movie about card sharks should be far more plentiful than they are. Because card playing is not as inherently visual as, say, other games. Still, you'd think that, with all the TV hours devoted to Housie, Pehchan Kaun, Poker and other things, some enterprising filmmaker would figure out a way to make it all work for the movies in India.

Movie like this has been made in this 21st century of the same name `21' starring Kevin spacey but that was on a true story whereas `Teen Patti' is of course indianise. No it's not a copy but it does take some vital elements from it.

The Story..of course

The reclusive genius Venkat (Amitabh Bachchan) has cracked a theory that could redefine the principles of probability and randomness. Venkat is encouraged to test his theory in the real world by professor Shantanu (Madhavan), an ambitious colleague of Venkat.

Although Venkat has no interest in the money that could come from practicing his equation to crack 'Teen Patti', which could rake in all the moolah, he eventually succumbs to Shantanu's charismatic persuasion. Soon, with the help of a few students, they explore the underground gambling dens of Mumbai.

But what starts out as an experiment between a charismatic young professor and an eccentric older one soon descends into a game neither of them can control.

What to look out for?

Big B uses his brilliance, snaky charm and the great baritone voice to good effect.

Mahadevan is in element. The newcomers Dhruv Ganesh, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar and Sharadha Kapoor are decent and have potential.

What Not?

The shocking point is the writer-helmer Leena along with her writing partner Shiv Kumar strangely believe that they are into something compelling and original.

So what Leenaji does? She delivers a mess from a premise which had all the ingredients of a thriller cause the helmer is all gloss if only the director Leena and her partner in scriptwriting (you can also read crime) Shiv Kumar Subramaniam had not opted for glitz.

With all prefabricated stereotypes characters, the movie also misrepresents genius.

Card counting, after all, is not the same thing as mastering superstring theory - an autistic savant with a low IQ, can be a whiz at it. The film doesn't even do a good job of explaining how card counting works.

Big B can use his snaky charm and the great baritone voice to sell almost anything, but here he is reduced to a weirdo mathematician who keeps talking to Newton and other great mathematicians in his room.

What `Karz' Mahadevan is in and how much money he has to pay our makers don't seem to bother.

In the original, the card game was made interesting to watch by use of sign languages but here nobody understands the theory as it is vaguely explained with those floating formulas, numbers, spades, diamonds and what not adding to the confusion.

On the mundane suspense part that who is the guy and all, it miserably fails to register any thrills.

Those addas, joints appear so fake that even makes us wonder whether he was the original Jackie Shroff showed in one of the joints.

Conclusion: The sexy number in the film `Teri Niyaat Kharab Hai' sung by Sunidhi Chauhan is okay but the fact is the `neeyat' (intention) of the movie is not Kharab but sadly the entire movie is.

Rating *