Aitraaz (2004)
Cast: Akshay Kumar Kareena Kapoor Priyanka chopra
Director: Abbas Mustaan
Music Director: Himesh Reshamiyya
Synopsis: Yet another local take on Hollywood material - strangely compelling though
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

Abbas-Mustan are the undisputed kings of the Bollywood thriller—or rather, the Bollywood adaptation of the Hollywood thriller. By and large they have provided audiences with fairly palatable "adaptations", blending mainstream Bollywood with, if not exactly edge-of-the-seat suspense, then at least consistently engrossing entertainment. This comes as a follow-up to Humraaz (we'll quietly leave Tarzan: The Wonder Car out of the equation), with the duo borrowing heavily from Disclosure, the Michael Douglas–Demi Moore hit.

The proceedings begin with a rather crass build-up to the marriage of Raj Malhotra (Akshay Kumar), an engineer, and Priya (Kareena Kapoor), a non-practising lawyer. Raj works for a telecommunications company and dreams of making enough money to buy his wife a three-crore house. After the obligatory barrage of songs, we are introduced to the company's owner, Ranjit Roy (Amrish Puri), who arrives accompanied by his glamorous young wife Sonia (Priyanka Chopra), who also happens to be the firm's managing director.

Sonia immediately seems to take a shine to our rather hapless hero.

Raj is promoted to CEO and returns home triumphant. Sonia soon begins making advances towards him, but Raj resists, devoted as he is to his rather ordinary, plain-Jane wife. Before long, however, the film plunges into flashback mode and we discover that Raj and Sonia have met before. Emerging from the sea in a scene shamelessly reminiscent of Bo Derek—mercifully minus the dreadlocks—Sonia quickly captures Raj's attention. One thing leads to another and romance blossoms.

Unfortunately for Raj, Sonia is very much a predator.

Ambitious, ruthless and always looking for the next opportunity, she values success above everything else. When Raj discovers she has aborted their unborn child in pursuit of her career, he walks away from the relationship and the film returns to the present day.

Sonia, however, has no intention of letting him disappear.

She wants him back—not out of love, but purely for sex—and even has the audacity to suggest keeping him as her own personal "keep". Turning conventional Bollywood gender politics completely on their head, Raj rejects her advances. A furious Sonia retaliates by accusing him of attempted rape, forcing him to resign from the company.

With everything to lose, Raj is initially prepared to walk away, but encouraged by his steadfast wife, he decides to sue Sonia for sexual harassment.

The stage is now set for the courtroom battle.

Unfortunately, this is also where Aitraaz begins to promise considerably more than it delivers.

For once, Abbas-Mustan squander what could have been a genuinely gripping thriller. Once the rather clumsy opening is out of the way, the premise shows enormous potential, but the flashback structure reveals Sonia's true nature far too early, robbing the story of any real suspense. The accusation itself arrives surprisingly quickly and before long we find ourselves in the courtroom, where proceedings never become quite as compelling as they should.

The directors must shoulder much of the blame. The narrative unfolds in a surprisingly flat, workmanlike fashion, with very few genuine surprises along the way. Even the crucial mobile telephone evidence, introduced to wrap everything up neatly, is telegraphed from miles away and will be spotted by anyone possessing even half a brain.

That is what ultimately makes Aitraaz such a disappointment.

The ingredients for a taut, intelligent thriller are all present, but instead the film gradually slips into familiar Bollywood territory, becoming less interested in suspense than in delivering a conventional battle between the virtuous Bharatiya Nari and the ambitious female predator. There is never any real doubt which side will emerge victorious.

Did it really have to be quite so easy?

Akshay Kumar once again proves himself a consummate performer, giving Raj exactly the dignity and vulnerability the role requires. Kareena Kapoor is sadly wasted, spending much of the film on the sidelines before finally becoming important during the climax. The real honours, however, belong to Priyanka Chopra. As the cold, calculating Sonia, she embraces one of Bollywood's nastiest female roles with remarkable confidence. Judging by the audience reaction, she successfully reinvents herself as the sort of glamorous vamp that Bindu specialised in during the 1970s.

The film is handsomely photographed, although it is badly let down by Himesh Reshammiya's rather dreadful musical score.

By and large, Aitraaz remains solid mainstream Bollywood entertainment. It is somewhat crudely directed and falls frustratingly short of becoming the thriller it might have been, but it still provides a reasonably entertaining three hours, even if it never quite delivers on its considerable promise.