
ApunKaChoice.Com	IndiaExpress.Com CricketZone.Com

RSS

HOME | MOVIES | Red | Red review

Red
story in pictures
Picture Gallery

'Red' -Lackluster

By Nikhil Kumar
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Cleavages and passionate kisses don’t make a movie. Nor does the stylish cinematography and lighting. A gripping story, which is the backbone of any good film, is missing in Vikram Bhatt’s ‘Red’.

‘Red’, which comes with a punchy tagline ‘The Dark Side’, is an erotic thriller and murder mystery rolled into one. The sad part is that the suspense is there only for the characters in the film. For the viewers, it doesn’t take more than minimal common sense to realize who is playing the manipulative game in the movie’s plot. And that is a big downer.

The

only thing that can make you (I mean the male gentry) sit through the whole movie is Celina Jaitley’s perpetually exposed cleavage and her hot, simmering romance and kisses with Aftab. Yes, ‘Red’ offers more titillation than thrills.

Aftab Shivdasani plays Neel Oberoi, a millionaire with a hole in his heart. He needs a heart transplant to survive. Luckily he finds a donor.

The donor is Anuj, who died in a car accident. Anuj’s widowed wife Anahita is a young and beautiful woman who now lives a sad and lonely life.

Neel wants to thank the donor’s family and he begins to follow Anahita. Attraction builds up between Neel and Anahita and soon they are drawn into a passionate emotional and physical relationship.

It is then Anahita reveals to Neel the truth about her husband’s death. So blinded is Neel in his love for Anahita that he is ready to commit murders for her.

Also embroiled in the plot is Anahita’s friend Riya (Amrita Arora), apparently a woman with negative shades. And there is also a cop (Sushant Singh) who is out to solve a murder mystery.

Vikram Bhatt gives a noir feel to the film. The cinematography is really different. The lighting is in dark red tones and the camera angles make the movie visually sleek and elegant. The music by Himesh Reshammiya is just about passable. Only two songs “Afreen” and “Ameen” stand out.

Among the performances, Aftab Shivdasani leaves a little impact. With this movie, Aftab sheds his cute-boy-with-dimpled-smile image. Not only does he look mature, his acting too has improved. Celina Jaitley looks enticing. Her acting is pretty average. Amrita Arora has a very small part and Sushant Singh plays the typical, sharp-minded cop.

The biggest flaw in ‘Red’ is the way the story is presented. The dialogues are pretty banal and the script is riddled with plotholes. Although the movie starts off quite well, it becomes utterly predictable in the second half. And the climax, which is shoddily conceived and executed, puts the last nail in the coffin of ‘Red’.

Rating:*

[Red movie] [Red preview] [Red picture gallery] [Red cast & crew] [Red trailers and videos] [Red wallpapers]

Copyright 2008 ApunKaChoice.com. All rights reserved.