The New Age Hero: Johnny Gaddar article

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For possibly the first time we have an Indian film maker explicitly paying tributes not just by word at the beginning or end of the movie but by cleverly placed instances in the movie itself, writes Vedavyasa Bhat

Had no expectations from this movie but wanted to watch it because the previews were interesting as they mentioned a heist and I am a big time sucker for gangster or heist movies !

Iwas amazed. I wasn't too thrilled with Sriram raghvan's directorial debut - Ek hasina Thi (Yes, the one where Saif Ali Khan plays the villain and Urmila is the protagonist), although I was entertained by it, but with his second movie Johnny Gaddar which is also the launch pad for Neil Nitin Mukesh is absolutely wonderful and refreshing.

For possibly the first time we have an Indian film maker explicitly paying tributes not just by word at the beginning or end of the movie but by cleverly placed instances in the movie itself and I am not talking product placement here folks. Tribute to James Hardley Chase, the Amitabh Movies of the 70s, the movie style of the 70s and of course the Dev Anand movie Johnny Mera Naam from which this movie also derives its name really point out to the fact that this Ram Gopal Varma protege is an intelligent, knowledgeable and dedicated film-maker.

The movie is a tale about a gang of 5 people Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh), Seshadri (Dharmendra), Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Prakash (Vinay pathak) and Shiva (Daya Shetty) collect 2.5 crores to buy something from an Inspector (Govind Namdeo) who confiscates something during an interrogation and is worth 5 crores. Now, this money has to reach Bangalore. And yes, it gets stolen. Well, you know who's stolen the money. So the movie is not a whosdunit but is a movie about whathappensnext. There's a parallel track interwoven of the illicit affair between Vikram and Shardul's wife Mini (Rimi Sen) which really is interwoven well.

Right from the starting when the credits roll in the 70s style with the 250 colour RGB look and clips from the film appearing in-between, I was thrilled and remembered all those movies I watched on TV as a kid, and I knew this movie is different. Different it is and worth a watch, worth a watch for the great casting, great performances, great styling, great tributes and a great debut from Neil Mukesh.

Is this a great movie ? Well...honestly, No. No because the story is a tad too long and the twists a little too many, but still definitely worth a watch. We need to encourage such movie makers and movies. Hats off to Neil Mukesh for choosing such an unconventional debut ! Thanks to Sriram Raghavan from bringing back a bit of my childhood !