The m0vie has surprisingly powerful performances by John Abraham and Katrina Kaif who mostly in their careers so far were displayed only as wooden show-pieces. But most unexpectedly, both of them have carried out intensely emotive roles. Neil Nitin Mukesh carries forward his Johnny Gaddar act of a dumb looking, confused yet manpulative person with great aplomb. Irrfan is brilliant in his one-liner terse approach to wit and humor that relieves the palpable tension in the storyline. Thankfully the music is good and mostly through the background numbers and does not lead to loss of pace in what is a good taut thriller.
For the sake of not revealing too much of the story line I would not reveal who of these is the good or the bad guy but all of them are strangely human with each having a selfish interest in whatever they are shown doing in the movie. The chracterisation has been slowly developed through out the length of the movie. During the 2 and a half hours of watching the movie you sometimes feel angry with one of these characters and sometimes you feel for one but all of them are able to convey an entire range of emotional conflicts between suitors, friends, loved ones, husband and wife, law-enforcer and a suspect etc.
Technically the film is well shot, well edited and has a steady pace to it. One should not miss the start after the intermission because there are some really bold scenes - first in Indian movies - about detention atrocities (FBI Style). The only little flaw is in the beginning few scenes of the college life of the 3 lead actors....lipstick is a little over done and in a few scenes Neil's lips and around are smudged with a little bit too much of it :)
All in all a new refreshing movie with all the usual Bollywood masala including a love triangle.
Rating : * * * * *
