Vishal Bharadwaj has done it again. After tense stories of Maqbool & Omkaara, he takes a deliberate take away from Shakespeare and delivers instead an awesome dark and twisted tale of two brothers each with his own share of mess to take care of, not to mention their speech impediments that provide some great sounding dialog to the audience and depth to the characters.
The film does not try to emulate one as the good brother and the other gone wrong. That's not what the director wants to show.
One brother knocks up a Don's sister unknowingly (the buildup to this is awesome) and the other one chances upon a guitar full of cocaine.As the plot thickens, both the brothers must gets their hands on the same cocaine to save their lives. Then, the director takes on a joyride through the shanty towns of Mumbai.
The film has strong overtones of the current issues in Mumbai politics and a leading lady in Priyanka Chopra, who is very much representative of present day Indian girl. She is no arm candy, she has a pivotal role and takes the film to its climax. A climax that drags on with one little twist after another, but it is't boring. by the end of it, you would want another.
The music is very good and does not interfere with the pace of the film. Gulzar has again delivered deep meaning lyrics that are more in sync with the film's theme than with classic poetry.
There are a lot of characters to take care of in the film and it's easy to lose to track, but none is less important than the other. Each one has a defined part and is intertwined in the destinies of Guddu & Charlie. It does remind you of Guy Ritchie films like Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels etc but it is in no way an imitation of such works. It is a complete masterwork in its own right.
With Jab We Met, Shahid Kapur showed that he can carry a film on his own, Kaminey shows that that two of him are better than one. He plays both his parts with such panache that its hard to see that its the same actor. This could well be the point when he lands more serious roles and less of the boy next door.
The film is dark with everybody fighting for survival but the presentation is such that you do feel for the people in it but can't help but sadistically laugh at them. that is what Bhardwaj has been able to achieve with Kaminey which very few directors in India can manage to.
Definitely one of the best works of contemporary Indian cinema.
