SHIKAR : Starring: Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu, Shahid Kapoor,Amrita Rao, Javed Sheik Direction: John M.Mattan.

Ever so often when things are seemingly too simple it is obvious that we have missed out on something very vital. Why else would as Ayn Rand reasons a philosopher prefer to be a cook at a dinner or a work of a genius lie abandoned among ruins? Simplistic solutions are invariably clichéd .

The problem with John Mathew is the expectation he has created after his earlier film Sarfarosh and the long hiatus thereafter. Some where there was this image of a savvy man who knew the nuances of the trade and was special. All that and more takes a beating- a severe one at that. 

The most exasperating aspect of it all is that the script leaks from the pulpit.  Life is not about the dark shades of black and white . It is not about straight choices. It is so often about adapting—like Wall Street.

GG (Ajay) is a guy with dreams in his eyes. He hopes to get Las Vegas to Mumbai. He sells the dream to a high profile politician Patil (Manoj Joshi). They accordingly plan to build a dream city near to the urban agglomeration of Mumbai only to be confronted by Srinath Vardhan (Javed Shiek) and his peaceful ashram.  I

n the midst of GG’s dream is this peaceful ashram which has all the characteristics of a typical ashram   people in white, all too good and all too willing to be door mats. 

The ashram also houses Madhavi (Amrita Rao),  Bhajan Lal (Sushant Singh) and Kusum (Farha)  When GG realizes that he cannot get the precious land occupied by the Ashram he befriends Vardhan’s naïve idealistic son Jaidev (Shahid Kapoor).

Jaidev gets drawn inexplicably into the vortex so skillfully webbed by GG and his lady Natasha( Bipasha).Things hot up with concerns of environ over luxury. The debate is somewhere taken to saying all urban development is anti environment.

The hackneyed display of the good vs the bad as in rich vs the poor is too archaic to be thought of at this stage.Ajay Devgan disappoints. The stylized actor somewhere looses control over the soul of his character.

In contrast Shahid when he is not aping Shahrukh displays a high energy level and adds a lot of sincerity. Surely a guy for the future. Hopefully he would be tested with better roles.

Amrita Rao does not have too much to do and is pleasant in a non glamorous role. Bipasha delivers. Her asset- apart from the obvious is her dialogue delivery. It is obvious that she puts in her best at the dubbing studios.

A good cameo from Manoj Joshi as the Minister adds pep to the movie. The film has its punches. There are special moments, some good photography some crisp dialogues. Over all it fails t impress and has just too many platitudes.
                                                                                                 L.Ravichander