By Sneha May Francis
New York
Cast John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan
Director Kabir Khan
Rating PG-12
Bollywood may have, finally, discarded the tiresome love stories for more realistic plots, but it's still wary about cutting short its run time. And that's the biggest downfall of Kabir Khan's New York. It attempts to be realistic, yet fails to cut out the candyfloss and mush. Apart from the jarring logical goof-ups, Kabir could've effortlessly edited his story to run for a little more than an hour. But instead, he stretches it out to more than two hours, making it almost impossible to sit through the movie! The fact that Kabir decided to make a thriller in slow motion is baffling. Even an act of terror is muddled in Bollywood-style drama.
New York could've been an interesting tale on the post 9/11 prejudices, but it lacks conviction. Early on we are introduced to the Patriot Act (for detaining any terror suspect) when Omar (Mukesh) is taken into custody by FBI agent Roshan (Irrfan) and tricked into spying on his old college mates Sameer (Abraham) and his wife Maya (Kaif). Roshan suspects Sameer will trigger a terror attack and wants Omar to help him stop it. This forms the crux of New York.
As for the performances, Abraham has improved a lot but he's still not perfect. Kaif is just a pretty face, sashaying around in pretty clothes. Mukesh lacks conviction merely because of the weak script. Irrfan, however, waltzes through his role.
Kabir makes an effort to portray the issue objectively but there are way too many glaring loopholes. It's rather weird that the FBI doesn't detain or probe Sameer even though they have enough proof about his wrong-doings. Also Sameer, despite living in the US since he was four, speaks with an Indian accent!
Clearly this is a film that you'd watch only if you are a die-hard Katrina Kaif, John Abraham or Neil Nitin Mukesh fan.
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