SHORT KUT - THE CON IS ON Review

Here comes another remake of a hit Malayalam Mohanlal starrer film UDAYANANU THANAM. SHORT KUT - THE CON IS ON, supposed to be comedy film is produced by Anil Kapoor and involves some interesting personalities who have given many Super Hit Comedies as Anees Bazmee, the Writer and Neeraj Vora, the Director. Thus the film should have guaranteed a good comedy, but unfortunately fails to deliver.

The film is a spoof on on Bollywood, and narrates the story of two strugglers, who aspire to make it big in the film industry. One is Raju (Arshad Warsi) who is a buffoon, a non-actor and still becomes a Superstar after stealing a prized script of the other struggler Shekhar (Akshaye Khanna), who is extremely talented, but unlucky. Shekhar continues to struggle as a director after his script gets stolen.

As a result, Shekhar gets shattered and dejected, and his wife a reigning actress Mansi (Amrita Rao) leaves him, reminds you of Abhimaan plot, clash of ego between Amitabh & Jaya Bhauduri then. Now Shekhar is on a look out to take revenge on Raju and the destiny brings them face to face when Shekhar gets an opportunity to direct his first film with Chandu as a hero.
What follows is a tale of con, treachery, deceit, stardom and then a fall.

The film starts well, but fails extremely after the intermission, all credit to a lack luster, loose, shoddy script which is accompanied by stale humour, silly & childish comedy. In fact everyone in the film shouts and screeches to irritatingly. And to tp it all, the climax is extremely terrible.

As regards to performance, Akshaye Khanna, who is too good in such comedies tries hard and also acts well but is failed by the script. Arshad Warsi gets a more meaty role but fails to impress and sometimes overacts. However, some scenes of Akshaye & Arshad does bring out some smiles due to their comic timing.

And then there is a surprise in the form of Amrita Rao who for change shows lots of skin and surprisingly oozes lot of sex appeal just like Urmila Matondkar in Rangeela and Mast in olden days. But her romantic track with Akshaye lacks consistency and is the worst part of the film. Chunkey Pandey surprisingly as the acting guru-turned-star secretary, manages to give a restrained performance.

Now coming on to direction, Neeraj Vohra, after his successful Hera Pheri (Part 2), fails completely this time, due to lifeless and lousy screenplay. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music also fails in the film, with no melody. Cinematography is good, showing some exotic locales of Thailand.

Overall, Short Kut – The Con is On lacks the wit, especially given the talented team, the opportunity has gone lost, courtesy lackluster script & outdated comedy. Hence the film disappoints, even the film’s trailor was not upto the mark, which I saw during the screening of Kambakkht Ishq.

I will give 1.5 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : Anil Kapoor Films Company & Studio 18
Released on : July 10, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Comedy
Producer : Anil Kapoor
Director : Neeraj Vora
Star Cast :
Akshaey Khanna -Shekhar

Arshad Warsi - Raju
Amrita Rao – Mansi
Chunkey Pandey – Guru Kapoor
Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor – Special Appearance

Music on : T - Series
Singers : Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Shreya Ghosal, Shankar Mahadevan, Nikita Nigam, Javed Ali, Kirti Sagathia, Hrishikesh Kamerkar Music : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics : Javed Akhtar
Cinematography : Ashok Mehta, Arvind Soni, Johnny Lall
Choreography : Bosco-Caesar
Action : Abbas Ali Moghul
Screenplay : Anees Bazmee
Story : Anees Bazmee