Tashan - Movie Review

Published: August 2, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor

Akshay Kumar’s tough bumpkin shtick reaches its apotheosis in the character of Bachchan—a thug who is ordered to hunt down and kill a beautiful con artist named Pooja (played by Kareena Kapoor), who has stolen the mob’s money. The problem is Bachchan falls in love with her. But he has to get in line—charming call-center executive Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) has already fallen for her and been suckered into her scam.

Jimmy teaches English on the side, mostly to meet girls, and when Pooja approaches him for private tutoring, he eagerly accepts. He later learns the tutoring is for Pooja’s boss, Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor), but he does the job anyway to get close to her. After he sees Bhaiyyaji verbally abusing her, she tells Jimmy that she’s an indentured servant working off her deceased father’s debts, and she convinces him to steal Bhaiyyaji’s money and run away with her. Once they pull off the theft, she takes the money and leaves him behind, and he learns that Bhaiyyaji is a mobster with Bachchan in his employ.

Bachchan catches up to Jimmy first, and the two of them hit the road looking for Pooja. Jimmy wants his share of the money he’s blamed for stealing, and when they track her down, he isn’t stupid enough to fall for her act twice. He and Pooja conspire to dupe the lovelorn Bachchan and get the mob’s money, this time for purely financial reasons. The three of them end up on a cross-country adventure running from and fending off Bhaiyyaji and his goons, and it turns out Bachchan’s backstory of childhood heartbreak is intertwined with Pooja’s own tragic past, creating a new quandary.

The story isn’t all that riveting and the stylized action is not as thrilling as it should be, but the characters bring the film to life. Kumar imbues the film with heart and soul, Kareena Kapoor provides pizzazz, and Anil Kapoor revels in the role of colorful psychopath. (The character of Jimmy is rather unremarkable and Khan is left underutilized. Also, his ladies-man routine is starting to get a bit old.) The soundtrack is solid, and the musical numbers are lush. “Tashan” means “style,” and this intentionally cartoonish flick with lavish visuals has plenty—and just enough substance to make it rewarding.

Tashan is rated Worth Watching.

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