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Anthony Kaun Hai : Review
05th Aug 2006 20.40 IST
By Nikhil Kumar

Anthony Kaun Hai is an average entertainer with a multi-layered story that is laced with humour, thrills, romance and songs.

Don’t expect Anthony Kaun Hai to be a laugh riot like Munnabhai MBBS just because it stars Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi . Surprisingly, the film has Dutt in a brief role. It is the likeable and talented Arshad Warsi who carries the entire film on his sole shoulders.

Besides the two, the movie stars Minissha Lamba , Anusha Dandekar , Raghuvir Yadav , Gulshan Grover and Ravi Baswani.

The movie’s title is a sort of misnomer, as it holds no key to the puzzle in the plot. It could have better been called Arshad Con Hai.

Yes, the film has Arshad playing a conman who acquires different identities and also specializes in making forged documents like passports and IDs.

The very beginning of the film is a bit anti-climactic. Champ (Arshad) is at the mercy of a stylishly dressed hitman named Master Madan (Sanjay Dutt) who has been hired by the villain Lucky Sharma (Chetan Hansraj) to eliminate a man named Anthony. Madan believes Anthony is disguised as Champ.

Champ pleads to Madan to let him tell his side of the story. Now, Master Madan is a hardcore Bollywood fan with a penchant for interesting stories. As Champ narrates his story to Master Madan, the movie goes into flashback.

Champ is in reality Champak Chaudhari who acquired the false identity of Anthony after escaping from a prison.

It turns out that the whole drama is because of a box of diamonds that have been hidden by a magician named Raghu (Raghuvir Yadav). Only Raghu’s daughter Jiya (Minissha Lamba) knows where the diamonds are hidden.

There are some expected and some unexpected twists in the plot. There is also an eccentric detective Suraj Singh (Gulshan Grover) who is hell bent at solving the mystery.

Anthony Kaun Hai has been promoted as a comic thriller. The film does have hilarious moments, courtesy Arshad Warsi and the funnily dressed Ravi Baswani, but the humour is mostly light-hearted and even wry at places. The film also has a fair share of thrills. What strikes the most is the slick and stylish way Raj Kaushal (the director) has shot the entire film. The cinematography is visually striking and the editing is crisp. The cityscape of Thailand and Krabi are captured on the screen with flourish.

Raj Kaushal has packed the film with enough masala to keep the audience glued. Besides comedy and thrills, there is a romantic angle between Arshad and Minissha. In fact, the film becomes a romantic caper in the end reels. Then, there are songs popping now and then to regale the hoi polloi.

There is no doubt Arshad Warsi is the driving force of Anthony Kaun Hai. The actor’s superb comic timing, his expressions and his overall performance is up to the mark.

Sanjay Dutt has a small role but he does his job well in those limited reels. There is an amusing mix of dread and fun to his character of a Ferrari-riding hitman with a knack for mouthing dialogues from Bollywood films.

Minissha Lamba looks cute and sexy. The gorgeous belle does have an acting talent. She manages to hold her place opposite a senior actor like Warsi.

Raghuvir Yadav is wasted, while Gulshan Grover is annoying at times. Anusha Dandekar makes no impact.

Music by Himesh Reshammiya is below the singer-composer’s normal standard. The two songs at the movie’s end particularly stick out like sore thumb.

All in all, Raj Kaushal has made an appreciable progress from his last films (Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Shaadi Ka Ladoo) and has come out with a slick entertainer in Anthony Kaun Hai. The film’s narrative is multi-layered and Kaushal peels the plot open without making the story confusing for the viewers.

But in an endeavor to mix comedy with thrills, romance and songs – Kaushal dilutes the impact the story could have otherwise had.

Still, the film is amusing enough.

Related
Anthony Kaun Hai
Munnabhai MBBS
Sanjay Dutt
Arshad Warsi
Minissha Lamba
Anusha Dandekar
Raghuvir Yadav
Gulshan Grover
Himesh Reshammiya