When did Crooks get so drab?

Film: Crook

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Neha Sharma, Kavin Dave, Arjan Bajwa

Director: Mohit Suri

Rating: 2/5

I have never witnessed such rapidly varying opinions through the course of watching a movie. Crook is a crooked, sinusoidal ride that begins with a story that seems to be heading nowhere, then it gives you that fleeting glimmer of hope mid-way that we have a thought-evoking story on our hands. And then, it crashes into a pile of debris in a terrible anti-climax.

Truth be told, Crook could have potentially been a riveting film about a crook's indifference towards a fad of racism as long as it does not affect him. Jai Dixit (Emraan Hashmi) moves to Melbourne under the alias of Suraj Bhardwaj, and works as a part-time taxi driver when he is not lusting after Suhani (Neha Sharma), an Australian citizen who lives in Melbourne with her brother Samarth (Arjan Bajwa) - who unfortunately reminds you of Arbaaz Khan's intolerable act in Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. The pity is, you can't figure out Jai's agenda: does he pursue Suhani for love, or is she merely the ticket to his PR in Australia?

The story then moves on to highlight the racism faced by Indians in Australia, and sadly that's where everything goes wrong. When you make a film on a topic as sensitive, the least we expect from you is that you do your homework right. Racism in Australia is an international issue that took seed ages ago. It had begun with the clashes between the native aborigines and European migrants, and had also resurfaced a few years back with the Cronulla riots between Aussies and Middle Eastern migrants. And then in 2009, a similar trend emerged which victimized Indians. In each of these spates of violence, people of various ethnicities were involved, and the reasons were more myriad and complicated than the amplified family feud that was shown as the reason in this shoddily done movie.

There is nothing to take away from the story, so let me not even get there. But you might just get the feeling that Emraan Hashmi is finally beginning to come of age. He is not great, but unless you are a cynic, you can't hate him either. Arjan Bajwa fits perfectly into his character - he plays the character of a psycho. And he looks like one too. Neha Sharma has a gorgeous face, and she is not a bad actor either. But such films can't do her any good. Kavin Dave should stick to his Sprite commercials in which he is absolutely fantastic. That wicked 'I am your nemesis, mate' look with a spade in his hand is just not his thing.

On a positive note, Pritam's music is outstanding. I don't care if he picks it up from somewhere - you can't rid yourself of the addiction to his songs. But then, just buy the music CD, you don't need to go watch the entire film. As for Australia, well, just download some beautiful pictures from the Web.