Wanted :Saw The Movie & Still I Am Alive....

I have never been a great fan of Salman Khan nor have i liked his films (except for one- Andaaz Apna Apna that too because it had Aamir and the story was an exceptional one. More about AAA in my next post....).

So after listening to reviews of Salman's new movie- Wanted-Dead or Alive, i had to catch the same. After finding a friend (Joshua Karthik) who had not watched the film, me and my partner in crime set out in search of a theatre which was running the film 5 weeks after it's release.

On our way to one of the multiplexes to check whether they were airing the movie, we saw a theatre in Kurla, which had a larger than life Poster of the movie. The theatre turned out to be the "infamous" Kamran, Kalpana and Kings. The smallest of the 3 screens, Kings was the one which was airing the film and as luck would have it, we were just in time for the show. Considering the ticket prices (30&40 Rs.) we took the more expensive ones, thinking the seats would be "better", if not the best.

Hugging our laptops(we had gone to see the movie after work), we entered the theatre. The first thing that hit us was the weird smell (later on we realised it was smell of paan stains & tobacco that had adorned the cinema house walls). We nearly stumbled to our seats, as the place was dark and the floors were made of wooden planks, unevenly joined together. Needless to say we were surrounded by the rickshaw drivers, vegetable vendors and labourers who had come to see their "Sallu bhai".

We were seated in one of the front rows, as we were the "priviledged" ones who could afford a Rs. 40 ticket and watch the screen from a close distance as the print was clearly an old one with audio problems. But seeing Salman's cool "i-give-a -damn" attitude and the action sequences all was forgotten.

Yes the film does have its' moments (especially action ones), but repetitive (over-the-top) dialogues, a 90s-style villain, and dance sequences having no continuity with the script makes the movie an average film. But i guess, Salman's fans will have nothing to hear of it. For them he is a "Demi-God", who can do no wrong. I believe he achieved this Demi-god status after his film-Tere Naam, where-in he portrays a person, jilted in Love (clearly mirroring his real life and the lives of millions of youth in India).

Anyways the movie-Wanted is strictly for Salman's fans, who are thrilled by his Cool "Bad Boy" image. (Was this how people used to feel about James Dean, I will never know...). For me the experience and not the movie, was immensly enjoyable

Last heard, Salman's fans eagerly await the release of Most Wanted- a sequel, which is being planned. I guess we can wait & see if his acting improves by then....