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'James' Lacklustre

By N K Deoshi
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

On the face of it, ‘James’ hardly looks like a film from Ram Gopal Varma’s factory. The movie, directed by newcomer Rohit Jugraj, has nothing fresh except its hero Mohit Ahlawat and heroine Nisha Kothari. Mohit chips in action and brooding intensity. Nisha makes sure the audiences are titillated to good degrees.

Half an hour into the film, even a squinter can see clearly that the movie has been made with the aim of launching Mohit Ahlawat as a prospective star. Notwithstanding the apparent lack of acting skills in the young man, special attention is paid to his muscle flexing and his brooding expressions.

The

story of the movie is banal, beaten to death on the silver screen many times.

James [Mohit Ahlawat] comes to Mumbai with hopes of making it in the city of dreams. He chums up with his childhood friend Babloo [Snehal Dabhi]. Soon, he finds the job of a bouncer at a popular nightclub.

James meets Nisha (Nisha Kothari), a popular model, at the gym and later at the nightclub he works in. The two get acquainted and become friends.

Then one night, a drunkard misbehaves with Nisha in the club. He is smitten by the beautiful girl’s charm and oomph. James shows his muscle power and sets the drunkard straight. But the guy turns out to be the younger brother of Shanti Narayan [Zakir Hussain], a ‘well connected’ underworld guy who has spread terror in Mumbai.

By bashing Shanti’s younger brother Radhe, James has stirred up the hornet’s nest. Now he must save his and Nisha’s life, for Narayan’s henchmen are out to settle the score.

James and Nisha take refuge in a friend’s mansion. But Narayan’s men track them down. Then something terrible happens. And the last reels of the movie are about James exacting revenge from the baddies.

Ram Gopal Varma has made an ambitious investment to create a star out of Ahlawat. Varma succeeds in small margins only. Mohit has an excellent physique and a finely chiseled face. But mere good bodies and looks don’t make stars.

Action, not acting, is Mohit’s forte. The guy fights really well and scores brownie points in action sequences. But his dialogue delivery and his facial expressions (or the lack of them) leave too much to be desired. Mohit is like a poor man’s Stallone. The anger and the simmering intensity of Mohit’s character in the movie come forth in glimmers only.

Newcomer Nisha Kothari too, like Mohit, has an excellent body and she too flaunts it without inhibitions, of course without any flexing of muscles. The explicit exposure of her cleavage and her thighs, particularly in the beach song ‘Zindagi Jeene Ka Naam’, will surely be welcomed by those who seek titillation in between action.

Some noticeable performances come from those on the margins. Zakir Hussain as Shanti Narayan is commendable. Shereveer Vakil as his younger brother Radhe is very convincing as a venomous lecher. Rajpal Yadav’s humor fails to work, while Mohan Agashe deserved a better role.

Rohit Jugraj, the director of ‘James’, has made a stylish movie and supported it with good background music. The first half of the movie, though predictable, is quite gripping. But by the time the story moves into the second half, you begin to get tired of repeated chases, fights, action and bloodshed.

The latter part of the movie is outstretched. The sequences of James single-handedly beating twenty guys are clichéd and void of impact.

On the whole, ‘James’ is a weak fare that will possibly appeal only to those interested in action without any substantial story. The less it is spoken about the acting of Mohit and Nisha, the better. The movie involves you only in the initial reels, but completely looses out of steam in the second half. And by the time it concludes, you are dying to say “Alvidaa James”.

Action without acting, style without story.

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