Body Sexy Painting

Thrillers have been Vikram Bhatt's forte and THREE - LOVE, LIES, BETRAYAL, scripted by Vikram Bhatt and directed by Vishal Pandya, takes the legacy forward. This time, it's a simple setting, involving three people. But it's not as simple as you think. The relationships are complicated, the characters are crooked and double crossing is almost a habit for this trio.

Unpredictability is the strength of THREE. Also, the culmination should come as a jolt - that's a must that any suspense thriller - and the twist in the climax meets the requirements, catching you by surprise.

But THREE is not without its share of hiccups. The writing is not consistently engaging and also, the length could've been concise. Yet, all said and done, THREE is a notch above the ordinary.

THREE revolves around Anjini [Nausheen Ali Sardar], who is married, is also a violin teacher and runs the house with whatever she earns. Her husband, Rajeev [Akshay Kapoor], who has not been able to earn much, lives in her house and on her money, which is the reason for his anger and frustration.

Rajeev finally gathers the courage and asks her to sell her house and give him the money to invest in the business; she refuses as her house is her only connection with her parents, who are no more. She decides to help her husband and give one portion of her house on rent so that her husband can use the money for his business.

Sanjay [Ashish Chowdhry] comes to stay in her house as a tenant and reads the tension between the couple. He sympathizes with her and in the process, she falls in love with him. Is Sanjay's love for real?

Not once do you feel while watching THREE that it's helmed by a first-time director. Right from the shot compositions to extracting the performances, the debutante director seems in control of the situation. But the writing could've been cohesive and more impactful.

For instance, the wife is subjected to domestic violence at two vital points, but not once does she report to the cops. The women of today are well aware of their rights and wouldn't cow down to any abuse. Also, the game of one-upmanship towards the end gets a bit complicated and could've been simplified.

Chirantan Bhatt's musical score is pleasant. Raju Rao's background score enhances the impact considerably. Pravin Bhatt's cinematography is truly arresting. The veteran DoP captures the beauty of Scotland on his lens admirably. The dialogues [Vikram Bhatt] deserve special mention.

All three actors fit into their roles well. Nausheen Ali Sardar is a revelation. She's excellent all through. THREE should act as Ashish Chowdhry's showreel, frankly. He has gradually evolved into a fine actor and this film proves it. Akshay Kapoor enacts his part with complete understanding. He knows the grammar of acting right. Achint Kaur is first-rate. Wonder why film producers have ignored this talented actor for so long.

On the whole, THREE - LOVE, LIES, BETRAYAL is a well-made thriller, but it remains to be seen how it fares in the Ramzan period and also how it competes with simultaneous multiple releases.

Not all English films can be adapted for the Indian screen. Also, the remake may not necessarily be as interesting as the original. That's what you realize when you watch the Hindi version of DEATH AT A FUNERAL called DADDY COOL. Sadly, DADDY COOL is just not cool. Plenty of reasons why...

* One, this supposedly laugh riot fails to tickle your funny bone, barring in a scene or two.

* Two, the concept is more suited for a play. Setting an entire film on one location, with the story taking place in a span of a few hours, is not too exciting.

Even otherwise DADDY COOL tries so hard to make you laugh, but falls flat on its face. The unfortunate part is, comedy in Hindi movies is now relegated to making faces on camera and that's what most actors in DADDY COOL do.

Another factor that goes against the film is its humour. It's crass and crude. In this film, men roam around either in shirts, showing off their underpants [Chunky Pandey] or stand on a roof with just underclothes [Aftab Shivdasani] or tell people to remove their underclothes so that they can relieve themselves in a toilet [Prem Chopra asks Jaaved Jaffery to do so].

Really, what kind of humour is this?

Chaos erupts during the funeral of Douglas [Sharat Saxena] when the grieved mourners are struck by drugs, romance, jealousy and a scandalous secret, all of which befall the family and friends.

Director K Murali Mohan Rao has helmed several interesting films in the past, but what's this? Sure, DADDY COOL has a few entertaining moments, like the one when Rajpal Yadav reveals the secret [that Sharat Saxena was gay and Rajpal and he were lovers], but the remaining sub-plots fail to cut ice. Adding multiple sub-plots is fine as long as each sub-plot has something fascinating to say, but that's missing here. Even the end is so bizarre, with members of this detached family suddenly professing love for one another.

There's just one song [Raghav Sachar] at the start [a tuneful number] and one towards the end. Dialogues are strictly okay.

With a weak screenplay on hand, there's not much the actors can do. The ones who try hard and manage are Suniel Shetty, Jaaved Jaffery, Sophie Choudry, Chunky Pandey and Prem Chopra.

On the whole, DADDY COOL fails to deliver what it promises - laughter and entertainment.