AITRAAZ
Showing Sunday 23rd January, 4.00pm
cert 12A
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra
Producer: Subhash Ghai
Director: Abbas-Mustan

The masters of thrillers - Abbas-Mustan - are back with a bang with AITRAAZ. AITRAAZ has an adult theme - that of an adulterous, deceitful and treacherous woman - but you can still watch this challenging theme with your mother, wife, sister and daughter, without squirming in your seat. For an audience looking for a change, AITRAAZ works big time!

In the dock of the courtroom stands a man, startled and shocked that destiny could lead
him there. He is accused of the most heinous crime - molesting his lady boss. Raj Malhotra [Akshay Kumar], who works for a cell phone company, is popular amongst his circle of friends and work colleagues. But his world comes crashing down when he meets Sonia [Priyanka Chopra] again. Sonia is an ambitious model with great aspirations. Her focus in life is crystal clear: Nothing shall come in between her wants and desires.

Raj’s wife Priya [Kareena Kapoor], once a lawyer herself, is prepared to do anything to protect her husband’s honour and dignity. Thrown into this web of deceit is Raj’s boss, Ranjit Roy [Amrish Puri], who happens to be Sonia’s husband. He is a mere pawn in her hands. Inspired by Barry Levinson’s Hollywood flick DISCLOSURE [1994; Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, Caroline Goodall], AITRAAZ has a plot that Indian cinegoers haven’t itnessed on the screen yet.

What makes the narrative interesting is that it’s the woman who eyes the man, not iceversa. And the interval point - the sexual altercation, with a furious Priyanka breathing
fi re - is the twist in the tale. The screenplay [Shyam Goel, Shiraz Ahmed] is almost foolproof. Of course, there are predictable situations in the earlier scenes that one watches in every second Hindi film. But these are minor blemishes in an otherwise winning script. Dialogues are excellent, especially the ones in the courtroom.

Himesh Reshammiya’s music is pleasing to the ears, and the cinematography [Ravi
Yadav] is fi rst-rate. On the whole, AITRAAZ is a well-crafted thriller that meets every expectation. At the box-office, the fi lm faces tough opposition from VEER-ZAARA without doubt, but it’s the kind of fi lm you’ll be happy to have spent your hard-earned money on.

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