Lurching in all directions

LISTLESS: Aksar

Aksar

Genre: Murder mystery
Director: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Udita Goswami, Dino Morea, Tara Sharma Storyline: Emraan's character meets Udita's character and they do what they do best by the pool, on the stairs, in front of London Bridge, on a London bridge...
Bottomline: A sordid affair of suspense and adultery.

Aksar is a film ahead of its time. Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan doesn't like doing things in half measures. When he promises seduction, scandal and suspense, he gives you Emraan Hashmi, lips puckered up for action.

Hashmi plays heartbreaker fashion photographer Ricky Sharma who has reportedly slept with all his models; he changes his women as often as his film rolls (roll khatam, rishta khatam).

In walks businessman Rajveer Singh (Dino Morea) with an element of intrigue. He wants Ricky to romance his wife Sheena Roy (Udita Goswami) so that she's out of his life.

And you can't blame him. Missus Rajveer Singh is a woman who can't venture near a flower vase without hurling it at someone. Indulgent husband that Rajveer is, there's always a vase at hand for her to fling in their palatial Manchester home, Victoria Mansion.

The seduction of Sheena is an inexplicable thing. What seals the deal for Ricky is a series of steamy photos he takes of her in the shower, without her knowledge.

She confronts him with a knowing smile, and wants to know when he'll take more of them with her knowledge.

And so begins an affair that is followed closely by Rajveer. But from plain `n' simple adultery, it ends in murder. A murder that unravels around a stress ball (involving the most unbelievable manipulation yet).

The filmmaker attempts an intricate plot that writhes into different positions as fast as its protagonists. Aksar expands generously to cover a host of genres. Victoria Mansion's butler Benz is seemingly there for comic relief, though his tendency to talk to unclothed statues is more creepy than funny.

As for the screenplay, it throws up lines that become memorable for their cheesiness. As Ricky Sharma (Emraan Hashmi) likes to say, "Don't start what you can't finish." And so, appropriately, the film finishes with another lurch in a different direction.

The music is passable though `Aksar' is one of those flicks where characters break into song and dance at the slightest provocation.

Be prepared.

SUSAN MUTHALALY

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