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Charas
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'Charas'

By ApunKaChoice Bureau
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

The only thing appealing about Charas is that it is based on a subject that has not been frequently tried in Bollywood. But then, a good subject can also fall flat if it is presented in an effective way. That is where Charas goes up in fumes.

With a motley cast comprising of actors like Irfaan Khan, Namrata Shirodkar, Jimmy Shergill, Uday Chopra and Hrishitaa Bhatt, the movie may have turned out to be a promising entertainer but it ends up as a lackluster fare sprinkled with some interesting sequence, but not interesting enough to leave an indelible effect on viewer.

Movie’s

director Tigmanshu Dhulia has been gutsy to try an offbeat subject, but he falters in trying to blend the artistic elements of the film with the ingredients of pure commercial cinema. The director creates a believable atmosphere by taking a viewer through the valleys of Kullu-Manali.

Mystery shrouds the sudden disappearance of an English boy, Sam Higgins [Adam Bedi], a student of Botany, from Himachal one day. Sam’s influential parents pull some strings in higher circles to find their missing son. As a result a suave cop from Scotland Yard, Dev (Jimmy Shregill) is sent to India for investigation in this ‘missings case’.

There are threads in the investigation that lead the young man’s search to the illegal narcotics trade jointly run by a minister in England, his counterpart in Delhi and an ex police officer, now a golden-haired druglord (Irfaan Khan).

There is an interesting history to the character of druglord. Once a loyal cop, he had the guts to speak against the government machinery when he was being felicitated and, disappointed with the system of justice, he moved over to the other side of the law, becoming an important player in the drug dealing trade around the world.

In his investigation Dev is helped by street-smart guide Ashraf (Uday Chopra), who is in fact, an undercover cop assigned the task of keeping an eye on the Scotland Yard cop. But as Dev gets close to solving the riddle, some influential people try to muzzle him and implicate him as a spy from Pakistan.

The onus to arrest Dev lies with Ashraf, who is in two minds – whether to arrest him or to help him solve the puzzle and get to the very root of the illegal narcotics trade. The stakes the high and they may have to pay with the price of their lives. In their mission they are helped by two beautiful belles – a journalist (Namrata Shirodkar) and a school teacher (Hrishitaa Bhatt) who in fact is the accomplice in the drug trade.

Charas may have turned out to be a much better flick, had director Tigmanshu Dhulia not veered the story off into various subplots. Even the inclusion of some songs and the romantic angle between Jimmy-Namrata and Uday-Hrishitaa appears deliberately forced in the narrative.

With the exception of Irfan Khan’s acting, other performances in the movie are quite lukewarm. But the main fault lies in poorly written script and bland dialogues.

On the whole, the movie does engage a viewer in certain sequences – like confrontations between Irfaan and the Afghani druglord, or the riveting chase in Delhi or the suicidal act by Irfaan in the second half – but Charas has nothing intoxicating to lure audience to cine theatres

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