Film Review for '99'.

Film Review- "99"

The Story: Two young men from Mumbai (Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha) named Sachin and Zaramud are enlisted by a crook to go and collect a debt on his behalf. The trip is botched when they lose the money they owe the boss. The rest of the film is spent attempting to get it back and to try and make some of their own money in the process.

Characters:

Kunal Khemu as Sachin- Smart young guy who has aspirations, but is using his mind to try and get out of trouble. He starts to fall in love with Pooja.

Boman Irani as Rahul- A man who loves his wife, but can't get himself out of debt and gambling to keep her around.

Soha Ali Khan as Pooja- A smart attractive girl who runs a hotel as a manager, but hopes for more. She falls in love with Sachin.

Cyrus Broacha as Zaramud- An overweight, rather goofy friend of Sachin who wants to make something of himself, but always messes up.

Cast:
Kunal Khemu as Sachin

Boman Irani as Rahul

Soha Ali Khan as Pooja

Cyrus Broacha as Zaramud

Simone Singh as Jahnavi

Mahesh Manjrekar as AGM

Amit Mistry as Kuber

Vinod Khanna as JC

Sudesh Berry as Sunil Mehta

Crew:

Distributor: People Pictures

Director: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru

Story & Screenplay: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru, and Sita Menon

Lyrics: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant

Music Director: Ashu

What Works: Ditching the ordinary Bollywood trappings of song and dance for a more indie cool flick is a nice change. There aren't hundreds of costume changes for these characters and a huge love story as the major plot. This is strictly business throughout with the right amount of romance and comedy to keep the viewer interested.

What Doesn't Work: The movie is reminiscent of American films like 'Snatch' or 'Ocean's Eleven'. It attempts to be in the vein of any "smart" movie with money deals gone awry or a gambling film where the underdog rises at the end. It doesn't hit the mark. The topic is trite and '99' doesn't bring a fresh outlook to make it stand out above the rest.

The Soundtrack: The music is fitting to the film and pretty eclectic. The Western style music has hints of the East with Hindi lyrics. Overall it's not bad, but not great. It mostly works within the confines of the movie itself.

Slated Or Rated? Slated. This is definitely not a must see film. The characters are good, but something still seems to be lacking in just about all of their actions. The plot is overdone and predictable and overall the movie gets better during the second half, but not enough to make it worth seeing.

2 1/2 out of 5

Critic: Phylis J. Iqbal