Bluffmaster - Movie Review
Published: April 3, 2010
Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Ritesh Deshmukh, Nana Patekar, Boman Irani
Bluffmaster has a little romance, a little comedy, a little tragedy—call it masala-lite. It’s taut and low-key, but still funny and heartfelt, making it particularly appealing to the film sensibilities of Americans, who aren’t used to the emotional rollercoaster of full-blown masala. But regardless of your preferences, Bluffmaster is a highly entertaining film with vivid characters and a smart script.
Abhishek Bachchan plays Roy, a con artist. He’s a charming, lovable bad boy, who cheats people out of their money because it’s fun and he’s good at it. He eschews violence, making his criminal nature a little easier to swallow. The story opens with Roy conning a film producer: he sets the man up to intercept a fake money drop to the mob and then poses as a cop to get a bribe out of him. But his scam comes back to haunt him when the film producer turns out to be a family friend of his fiancé, Simmi (Priyanka Chopra). The producer recognizes Roy at their engagement party and tells Simmi and her parents the truth about him. Simmi dumps him on the spot—and that’s when their relationship gets interesting.
Bachchan and Chopra aren’t the best onscreen pairing. In this and other films in which they’ve co-starred (Drona, Dostana), there’s no heat between them. They come off as pals, not lovers. Perhaps that’s why their characters are most convincing as a couple when they’re not a couple—when he’s the lovelorn swain and she’s the indignant ex. They’re only passionate when he’s pursuing her and she’s reluctantly rejecting him—which is the case for most of the film as he tries to win her back by convincing her that he’s changed.
But he hasn’t changed. He befriends a less-skilled con artist named Dittu (Ritesh Deshmukh) and becomes his mentor. In the interest of education, they pull off a couple humorous scams together. Deshmukh always makes an amusing sidekick who appropriately doesn’t overshadow his partner.
However, the lead is overshadowed by two other supporting actors in the film, Boman Irani and Nana Patekar—two of Bollywood’s best. Irani plays Dr. Bhalerao, who diagnoses Roy with a fatal brain tumor and becomes a father figure to his misguided patient. But there’s no melodrama in this terminal-disease subplot. Roy decides to use what little time he has left to help Dittu get revenge on the man who ruined his father. They plan one last big con to take down Chandra, a dangerous sociopath played by Patekar, who delightfully dominates the second half of the film. Even an accomplished crook like Roy can’t predict how this scam turns out.
Bluffmaster is rated Must See.
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