Review: Naqaab

Sex, lies and videotape
Pratim D. Gupta

Sex, lies and videotape. That’s Naqaab. Not in that order. And it’s not exactly Steven Soderbergh’s groundbreaking 1989 indie film, but has more to do with his freaky Full Frontal. But as far as Bollywood thrillers go, Naqaab pushes the envelope far enough to make it entertaining and also toss up a question at the tail: In today’s world of reality television, what’s really real?
We won’t spoil the movie for you. What you need to know: Multi-millionaire Karan (Bobby Deol) and Burger King babe Sophia (Urvashi Sharma) are living together in Karan’s Dubai mansion. He pops the question with a capsicum ring, she says yes and then, as per an Egyptian custom, does a salsa with a stranger named Vicky (Akshaye Khanna) as the last tango before marriage. That’s obviously the start, the start of a doomed romance between the struggling actor and a simple girl yearning for some real romance.
Before you fear that it’s yet another hackneyed masala mush, remember it’s an Abbas-Mustan film, who besides rehashing Hollywood thrillers, have explored virgin territories in Bollywood like wife-swapping (Ajnabee) and sexual harassment (Aitraaz). And in whose films nothing happens by chance. That’s all we can say. The rest, go discover. A tip: Don’t get put off by every character in the film carrying a handycam and the sound effects track going beep, beep, beep…
At two hours (and just three songs), Naqaab is a watchable thriller. The only problem with Abbas-Mustan is that they don’t know where to stop. The Coen Brothers — the original thriller masters and obviously infinitely better film-makers than the Burmawalla brothers will ever be — keep spinning yarns but as their twists unfold — from Miller’s Crossing to The Man Who Wasn’t There — it keeps getting better.
Not so with their Indian counterparts. In an obvious bid to make the good guy laugh last, the plot spirals way off the plausibility path. But that takes little away from the sweeping tagline — “the year’s most shocking thriller”. The revelation in Naqaab does make you sit up and ponder over the 90 minutes gone by.
And making each of those tantalising something’s-not-right moments work are the three main players. Akshaye Khanna. You now expect him to chuckle his way through this stuff, and indeed he does it without working up much of a sweat. Bobby Deol. Watchable after quite a while. No Boom, no Jhoom… good ol’ earnest Bobby. And there’s not even a Humraaz hangover between the two men.
But the clincher is Urvashi. A cross between Sushmita Sen and Isha Sharvani, the debutante is the best find in tinseltown in years (with only Kangana Ranaut as competition). She not only looks beautiful, but holds her own against Akshaye, from the dance floor to bed. No wonder Tips had signed her up for seven more films even before Naqaab hit theatres.
Technically, it’s as slick as any Abbas-Mustan film with the digital video and 35mm images blended beautifully. And then there’s Pritam, who gives his customary hit track of the movie (Ek din teri raahon...).
Naqaab is definitely worth the unveiling and if you do catch the movie, watch out for the scene where Bobby admires a Karuna Banerjee scene in Pather Panchali, played on Angel DVD on a big calendar TV, and says: “Satyajit Ray... man, he changed Indian cinema.”
Hic!