peddiniz

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sonal Chauhan
Direction: Kunal Deshmukh
Critic rating: ** 1/2

TRULY, this one's a case of a great opportunity going kaput. The theme was dynamite -- betting and match fixing in cricket. The choice of the lead character -- a hotshot bookie who has the cricket heroes at his beck and call -- was refreshing. The allusions to the World Cup and the Woolmer case were topical. The film could have truly been a fast-paced thriller set against the heady backdrop of big money and bad cricket. Ironically, the director chose to concentrate more on the bookie's love story than on the spurious operations that go on in the locker rooms and underworld dens.

And the fact that this is a truly colourless love life, going nowhere, saying nothing, puts the brakes on what could have been a rollercoaster ride into the underbelly of India's greatest passion: cricket. Whenever the story begins to veer into dangerous and chatpata territory, our smooth fixer shifts gears and decides to play romeo to a plain and pallid Jane. Grrr! You simply grind your teeth in despair and wait for the film to get back onto the jagged track.

Emraan Hashmi is the delightfully wicked soul who believes morals are moribund; it's money that makes the world go round. Hailing from a middle class home, with a dad who was content bathing with Hamam soap and a mom who made hot rotis for the family dinner, Hashmi was hellbent on creating his own jannat . And moolah -- loads of it -- was the only ticket to this paradise. With his sixth sense as his weapon, he enters the dubious world of betting, earns a reputation and wins the patronage of the don who wants him to fix the World Cup for him. Great going so far, specially during the scenes where Hashmi offers a well-known captain Rolex watches and some ungodly sum to loose a match, or bets on a ball where Sehwag is going to get out. But suddenly, the focus shifts to his girlfriend (Sonal Chauhan) who loves the riches, but has conscience pangs too. She sends him off to jail and begins to pole dance in a nightclub.

Hey, now where did that come from? Can we please get back to the backrooms, the underhand dealings, the smooth operations, the dirty nexus between terrorism and match fixing....Can we please get back to Emraan Hashmi, an actor who seems to have perfected the art of portraying the man-on-the-edge with ambivalent morals. He delivers a fine punch to the bookie act, much unlike the debutant heroine who is colourless and flat. The second half of the film unfortunately focuses too much on the jaded romance and cuts a great story short. Sad.