Tees Maar Khan: Khan Do Better, Farah!
By MovieTalkies.com, 24 December 2010
2.5 / 5
Farah Khan lives up to her reputation and delivers yet again with a film which is crazy, entertaining and of course, full of jokes at the industry. Actually, if 'Om Shanti Om' had Manoj Kumar offended, then this time, it may well be the turn of old friend Shah Rukh Khan. If there were any doubts still about the status of the SRK and Farah friendship, then this film leaves no doubts whatsoever.
Anyway, to come to point, 'Tees Maar Khan', may not be as good a film as 'Om Shanti Om', but it is definitely not lacking in entertainment value. Unlike many of the so called comedies which have released this year, this film is punchy and stupid enough to make one laugh. What the film could have done with, however, was a tighter screenplay and story, and it could have been a real winner.
The film's story is about a con artist, Tabrez Mirza Khan or Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar), who is one of the most wanted men by the cops and Interpol, but somehow manages to give them the slip everytime. A man who lives by his wits, TMK has this doting mother, three clowns who are his close cronies, and a girlfriend Anya (Katrina Kaif), who has this Bollywood fixation. Since it is a comedy, the cops and the CID are a bunch of jokers, who are constantly conned by TMK and his cronies.
At stake, this time is this storehouse of antiques, which have to be transported by train to the government treasury in Delhi, with the cops playing escorts. The cops are happy that TMK has been arrested in Paris by the Interpol and feel that they will manage to accomplish their mission without any hurdle. But TMK gives the Interpol and the CID the slip and reaches home safely. He is hired to steal the jewels and antiques from under the cops' nose.
So TMK comes up with a superb plan, wherein he reaches a remote village called Dhuli and pretends to be shooting a film. The plan is to intercept the train at Dhuli and make off with the loot. He manages to con the simple village folk of the village that he is actually a big Hollywood director, who is shooting a 'Slumdog Millionaire' type of film in the village, one which is sure to win an Oscar.
He also manages to rope in ruling matinee star, Aatish Kapoor, played by Akshaye Khanna, in a delightful cameo, as the hero of the movie. Aatish is dying to win an Oscar and cannot get over the fact that he missed Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire', because of his secretary's stupidity. One cannot miss the reference to a certain Khan, who lost the role of the quizmaster in the film to Anil Kapoor! What follows, of course, is a lot of chaos.
Farah's film has her characteristic touches, the crazy humour and the very typical potshots at Hindi films and Hindi filmmakers. However, one cannot help but compare the movie to 'Om Shanti Om', which was a more complete movie in itself and had a more engrossing storyline and screenplay.
'Tees Maar Khan' has a certain half baked quality about it, especially towards the last few reels. Farah lays out the plot very well but she is unable to tie up all the ends satisfactorily. The film has a very promising start and middle but the end is quite weak.
Farah manages to extricate very good performances from her cast, beginning with Akshay, who gets into the role of the con man with utmost ease and manages to carry off the role very well indeed. His style of comedy works well for the character.
Akshay is well supported by Katrina, who plays his ditsy, star struck girlfriend, and Apara Mehta, who plays his doting mother. Ali Asgar and Vijay Maurya pitch in well as Tees Maar Khan's cronies. The film is full of some delightful cameos, beginning with Akshaye as the Bollywood superstar, Sudhir Pandey as his secretary, Arya Babbar as the village police inspector, Sachin Khedekar as the police commissioner, Aman Verma and Murli Sharma as the CID duo, and finally, Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman as the villainous twins, literally joined at the hip. It is these performances, along with the punchy dialogues, which really lifts the movie.
As for the film's music, Vishal Shekhar have clearly done a great job as most of the songs are catchy and have clearly caught the fancy of the public. Leading from the front is the 'Sheila ki jawani' number, followed by 'wallah re wallah', which sees Salman Khan making a guest appearance.
The husband and wife duo of Shrish Kunder and Farah have definitely shown that they are quite a winning combo. But one just feels that the duo may have got a little carried away in their attempt to be clever. As for the rest, the film is entertaining enough and makes for an ideal holiday fare.