How this one Blue its chances…Sandy’s review of Blue

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan, Lara Dutta, Rahul Dev and Katrina Kaif (guest appearance)
Directed by: Anthony D’ Souza
Stars: **

See Blue and you’ll know how the film is symptomatic of what Hindi films suffer from today. High on ornamental value and low on substance, one has to rue how obscene amount of money gets spent on a film that no one would miss anything even if it hadn’t been made. Yes, the film has superb production values and is truly international in its look. But beyond that, it’s literally water going down the drain.

Blue turns out to be a very forgettable film, though it’s clear the makers have moved heaven and earth to make it an unforgettable one. Like an indulgent parent who stuffs too many fancy gifts into his spoiled kid’s hands, the producer here brings everything that money can buy for his debutant director, Anthony D’Souza. This has ensured some novelty and first time attractions of course. For starters, this is truly the first underwater thriller that Bollywood has attempted. And to make it convincingly, the makers have spent lavishly on international technicians and all kinds of gorgeous locations. Then there’s the Kylie Minogue item number for which the makers paid a bomb – the million dollar question is how many in the audience even recogonise her! Also, there’s no end to the number of cars that explode mid-air, bikes that burn or bullets that burst like bombs.

Aarav (Akshay Kumar) is a dashing young man, who owns a Fishery in the Bahamas. Sagar (Sanjay Dutt) works for him, and is also his confidant. Sagar’s life revolves around his girl friend Mona (Lara Dutta) and biker brother, Sam (Zayed Khan). The latter gets into trouble with a goon (Rahul Dev) who demands huge amounts of money to be returned back to him. Since Sam’s life is under threat, he joins his brother and Aarav in the Bahamas. Aarav has his sights set on a treasure that is hidden in a ship that lies underwater. Sagar is not willing to venture into the deep ocean for this purpose, but circumstances force all three of them to go there eventually.

The film is sleek and polished. The action sequences are well-shot and D’Souza goes about his business with a certain flair and style. There are also some funny punch lines at the start (thankfully understated) that serve the film well. The marine life and locations around Bahamas are breathtakingly captured.
All this would have amounted to something if the makers would have concentrated half as much on a script, which ends up being the only absent entity in this extravagantly mounted film. For almost close to one hour, the movie is nothing but a series of highlights ( the Kylie Minogue club number, motorbike race, the sensuous Dil Gustakh Hai number, Katrina Kaif’s entry and so on).
D’Souza is so consumed with shooting pulsating action sequences and adding style to every frame, that he would have been happy to do away with a plot if he could. Most of the film is about Dev chasing down Zayed Khan and it gets frustrating after point because the whole conflict, if one can call it that, is pretty senseless. Rahul Dev just lands up everywhere, shoots bullets at will…all leading to a suspense that most can see coming from a mile.

The water adventure is only in the last 25-30 minutes, where the three men get into the ocean. But with such a lame storyline and no feeling of connect with these characters, all you do as an audience is view their action with detached interest.

The film is quite short at one hour and fifty minutes, but in spite of it, tests your patience.

The performances are decent. Akshay Kumar seems to have a sense for everything (dressing, women, action), except a sense for scripts. Sanjay Dutt has put on tons of weight and looks weary for an action thriller of this kind. Zayed Khan plays the expected cool dude with an attitude. Lara Dutta is attractive, but once again reveals how poor an actress she is. Katrina Kaif shines in a sharp 12 minute cameo.

The music by A R Rahman is a mixed bag. The title track and Dil Gustakh Hai is a lovely composition, and very aesthetically picturised.
Ultimately, though, Blue with the kind of resources at hand, could have been a truly memorable adventure film only if someone would have cared to come up with a script. The way it stands, Blue’s distributors might just be in the red.

-Sandhya Iyer