Johnny Gaddar: Flashes in the dark

Johnny Gaddar is an open-end thriller with most common humane attributes–greed, money, love, and kill. A well-planned but failed betrayal brings everyone in a deadly trap; where the only escape route is Death.

Another master-thriller from Sriram Raghaban, who debuted with Ek Hasina Thi, shows how Indian cinemas are slowly making a paradigm shift towards Hollywood style of film-making; neatly packaged, fast paced, and innovatively conceptualised piece of work that keeps viewers’ interest intact till the credits appear; An end-to-end, value-for-money entertainer that perfectly suits its well-conceived plot while keeping the typical Bollywood overdoses at bay. Neil Mukesh, the grandson of legendary singer Mukesh, is truly a great find, and, if well guided, he may well be the face that the industry is desperately looking for.

Johnny Gaddar, the film, is in perfect rhythm with evolving urban lifestyle and taste, but may not suit the larger framework of Indian audience. The dismal performance indicators at Box-office MUST NOT deter you from watching this film.

The Story : Set in Mumbai, the film focuses on a small section of the city’s notorious nightlife. An ensemble group of five men, the eldest is 60+, the youngest in his 20s. They have their fingers in various legal and not so legal activities.

They are friends and businessmen too. They get an offer to make a fortune in four days. All they need is to invest Rs.50 lakhs each and they will make a 100% profit. All the gang members are up for it as it will catapult them into the big league.

The youngest member of the gang, Vikram makes a devilish plan to grab the entire fortune and disappear to an unknown place with his lady love and start a new life.

Thus begins the tale of theft, betrayal, murder and vengeance. Vikram’s opening gambit is a neat double cross. But as he plunges further into his diabolical plan … he realises that the stakes in this game are high. And the only losers he can afford to leave behind are the dead ones. What starts as a simple caper goes horribly wrong when one of the gang is killed before he can make the exchange and the money he was holding disappears.

Then follows a ruthless search for the thief and killer who must be a traitor amongst them for who else could have known about the heist?

The viewer knows exactly what has happened but the characters in the film don’t. A reverse suspense thriller …. WHODUNIT??

Johnny Gaddar (title track)

Dhoka

Johnny in the house