But for the Swine Flu menace, I would have given the review on Friday itself. Had booked the Premier show tickets for Thursday, but unfortunately the city got shut down for 4 days. Finally yesterday I got to see it and I must say it was worth the wait !
Kameeney runs, for the most part, only on 2 gears - 4th and 5th ! Just in a few of the sequences the film comes to 2nd gear. Maybe, Vishal wanted us to breathe a bit.
Kameeney is a multilayer gangsta flick with the usual intertwined mix up story which brings our 2 male protagonists in a sticky situation. What makes it unusual is the treatment.
Vishal has chosen HAND HELD frenzied pictuarisation to shoot this film. Along with the zany background score this shaky cinematography maintains the pace of the film. Though it is slightly overdone. In some sequences the shake isnt required and creates a jarring effect on the senses. Pace can be maintained in a more sophisticated way like the Bourne Series ( complicated mix of steady shots - written and edited to perfection) or like a Guy Ritchie gangsta film ( some unconventional transitions between mutliple shots ). Though I still think the decision on Vishal's part is a brave one and proves that you do not need Huge Crane shots or Trolleys to make a scene powerful. RGV depends on slow brooding tension, while Vishal works on a more frenzied version.
Kameeney has some solid dialogues and screenplay. It proves that strong writing can help create an awesome film. Though the characters are not memorable except for the "PHA ko PHA" bolnewala PHAhahid. Shahid has done a stupendous job in the film and finally I think he has come out of his SRK infatuation. Priyanka is also very good in her role. Amole Gupte's character is someone you have seen several times in films and he has done a decent job.
Songs and Background score are the strong point of this film, "Dhan Ta dan" being the strongest.
The first half of the film scores full marks, though the story loses some pace in the second half. Yes, a bit of reduction in its running time, would have given it some extra points, with a deletion of a few sequences which do not take the story anywhere. The lull before the final sequence is the lull before the storm because the screen explodes with action from all directions. The song running in the background in the last seqeunce is probably the most enchanting one. A surpise packet. Do watch out for it.
The style of storytelling is also refreshing. Not necesarily linear, it runs parallelly at times. Brings out a "Yeh kya ho raha hai" before you go "Oh ! ok" or sometimes "Abhi kya hogaa?" before you go "Achhchaa!".
Kameeney is definitely MANY notches above the average Bollywood flick. But to say that its a new dawn of brave bollywood film making is a bit of an exaggeration. We expect this from Vishal and he has not let us down. Its the kind of storytelling that captivates and entertains. What a phenomenal talent this guy ! Kudos....
Rating: 7.5 / 10 - cud have earned more if it cud have given some more memorable characters - like a Bhiku Mhatre for instance.
