Kaminey

DIRECTOR: Vishal Bhardwaj
CAST: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amol Gupte, Tenzing Nima, Chandan Roy Sanyal

Vishal Bhardwaj makes a first half that is so good that it is near-flawless. Charlie lisps. Guddu stammers. To create identical twins with a distinctive speech impediment is a master stroke. And to set them in a sea of dubious, dodgy characters, where they all have to swim or sink, has the audacious stamp of a director who has always gone where everyone else in Bollywood has feared to tread.

He gives the twins completely different, completely captivating identities. Charlie dreams of finding a “fortkut” to fortune, while doing the dirty work for a betting syndicate. The earnest Guddu works, quite appropriately, with an NGO. The love of his life is Sweety (Priyanka Chopra), who has done a little fiddle of her own to get close to the cute guy who stammers. The lead characters of a Hindi film who are not straight and narrow, and proud of it? You lick your chops, and settle down to the rest of the feast you hope will be as delicious.

And for a while, it is, as Bhardwaj goes about setting the scene. Other kaminey surface, one after the other. Tashi the gangster, with his cheroot and fancy yacht. A trio of Bengali brothers who fix races. Local hood Bhope Bhau, lover of Marathi manoos and hater of all the others who live in Mumbai. A couple of crooked cops fronting a huge drug deal. A guitar full of white powder worth crores. The seductive smell of illicit cash. The director picks up his mix, gives it a good shake and lets his gang of grifters rock and roll. Till the interval, Kaminey is fabulous: dhan ta nan!

... contd.