Dishkiyaoon Movie Review: A Stylish-N-Different Gangster Flick

A truly different gangster film - This is what Dishkiyaoon turns out to be which ends up throwing a pleasant surprise. The fact that film would be visually good was prominent in the promos itself. However time and again it has happened that the asli picture is very different from what a promo conveys. Hence, one is guarded while stepping into this debutant writer-director Sanamjit Talwar film.

As it happens though, Dishkiyaoon turns out to be one of those rare films where style actually meets content as well.

The film is framed quite differently and that is apparent from the flashback sequences itself. Harman Baweja, a gangster, tells his story to tough guy Sunny Deol and takes him back to childhood days. From this point on itself, the story becomes arresting, what with the introduction of Prashant Narayanan as a gangster. Playing against clichés and being someone who wants love in the style of Yash Chopra (and not Prem Chopra), Prashant makes the film his own whenever he is on frame. Once he takes Harman, who desires to be a gangster, under his umbrella, you know it is going to be arresting enough in time to come.

This is what happens as a snake and ladder game is played with no one really knowing who is the one actually playing a game and the one who is played upon. The line between a protagonist, antagonist and everyone else in between is blurred as this character driven film has several twists and turns to its credit that would have kept Abbas-Mustan interesting. The fact that you can't really predict most of them makes the narrative all the more engaging.

So whether it is camaraderie between Harman and Prashant (which is never ever on your face), the villainy of another don (played very well by Sumit Nijhawan), the emergence of a gangster who wants to be in charge of grater things (Anand Tiwari on fire here) and placement of a cop who fluctuates between imaandaari'and beyimaani even in front of his boss (Aditya Pancholi in a truly meaty role) - just about everything ensures that on this underworld chessboard, no one has any clue whatsoever on who is a pawn and who is the King.

Also, it could well be a record for a Mumbai based gangster film to not have routine lines like Chal, hawa aane de, Bas Kya, Apan Tapori Log, Mujhko tu Maangta and stuff alike. On the contrary, Sanamjit and his technical team ensure that it is an all new gangster world on screen where a central protagonist roams around in a cool convertible, villains have a classy-n-stylish den, another don never forgets his visit to the Church, the cop likes to learn lingo of today (LOL - he says) and biggest of dons have their own undercover story to narrate.

With such cool moments in there, the only distraction that comes in is the entire romantic track. It is a total misfit into the narrative of the film and wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever to the overall context and story. Though Ayesha Khanna tries well, her character by itself is so much unwarranted that you really want to get back to the drama between gangsters. Especially in the first half of the film, it gets a lot more prominence than what was possibly the appetite of this story. Moreover, each and every song just comes out of nowhere which only slackens an otherwise good pace of the film.

Thankfully, with a very well structured second half and some truly shocking turn of events towards the penultimate moments, you do stay on with Dishkiyaoon. Harman gives his best performance till date and is especially notable in the last 15 minutes when his character takes a maniac shape. He is especially wonderful when he eventually accomplishes his mission. Sumit Nijhawan is a find and gives a very balanced performance while keeping himself out of the mould of a quintessential Bollywood don. Anand Tiwari looks like a different actor altogether as he fits in wonderfully well as a villain after playing mostly comic roles.

Aditya Pancholi is quite good and brightens the screen every time he appears on frame. In fact one waits for him to come back into the scene. Prashant Narayanan shows once again that he is a very reliable actor, though one would have loved to see more of him. However, credit it to Rajit Kapur that he manages to ham even in his couple of scenes! The youngster who plays Harman's friend does well. Surprisingly, the fire is missing in Sunny Deol and he is way too laidback, though his character holds good importance to the plot.

Still, overall interesting characters ensure the film to be a roller coaster ride where the pace is maintained so very well (courtesy editor Ramwshwar Bhagat) that you too are required to run fast. A film that requires your brain to be working equally hard to keep track of who, why, when and where of the world, Dishkiyaoon is also aided very well by some cool dialogues and smart one liners that manage to throw in a lot of context in very quick time.