Bombay To Bangkok Movie Review

By Varun Unnikrishnan 5 March 2008 99 views No Comment

Starring: Shreyas Talpade, Lina Christianson, Vijay Maurya, Manmeet Singh

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

Synopsis:

Bombay To Bangkok is a comedic crime caper written and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor about a young chef, Shankar. Shankar steals a sizeable amount of money from the local Don, and flees to a medical camp in Bangkok, where he meets the girl of his dreams, Jasmine. The one catch is that she doesn’t speak a word of English. To further complicate matters, Shankar runs into the Don again.

Review:

Bombay To Bangkok has been marketed as a comedy by Nagesh Kukunoor, who writes and directs this movie. Kukunoor, who created movies like Hyderabad Blues and Iqbal, tries his hand at comedy-drama this time. While Bombay To Bangkok doesn’t hold a candle to those earlier films, it does amount to a mildly amusing time at the movies.

The story, as mentioned earlier is about Shankar (Shreyas Talpade) and his exploits in Thailand, after a run-in with the local Don (Naseeruddin Shah) in Bombay. Posing as a doctor, he meets a local Thai volunteer, who moonlights as a ‘masseuse’, and sets off on a series of adventures to recover his stash , All the while, he is being pursued by the Don’s son, Jamal (Vijay Maurya), a bling-wearing gangster more interested in rapping than anything else.

The movie on a whole was pretty disappointing by the standards of Kukunoor’s earlier movies. The directing is fairly solid, but the script leaves a lot to be desired. The set-up of the whole story was done in around 45 seconds. They give the main character a crippled mother for good measure; she has only one scene in the entire film, and doesn’t contribute anything to the plot. There are several dream sequences, each more jarring than the last, which tend to annoy more than amuse.

The music is fairly good, with ‘Same-Same But Different’ coming off pretty well. However, the same can’t be said about the score and soundtrack, which are horribly repetitive and one-dimensional.

Almost making up for it are the visuals, which are broad in scope. The filmmakers make a good move by basing the plot in the rundown countryside instead of the glitzy metropolises or pristine beaches that Thailand is famous for. Performances are adequate: Shreyas Talpade proves reliable once again as the director’s go-to man. Lina Christianson, who plays the Thai girl Jasmine, is very easy on the eyes, but looks confused by the mess of Indians all around her, and doesn’t turn in a very good performance, though she is a good dancer. Other notable performers are Vijay Maurya and Manmeet Singh, who are pretty funny in their roles.

On the whole, the film tried to cover far too many genres to possibly fit neatly into one decent package. Maybe it’s just me, but a Comedy-Crime-Romance-Drama-Thriller seems a bit much. Watch it for the lovely leading lady, and watch it for the comedy, but don’t expect too much from it. Bombay To Bangkok sums up to a tiny portion of undercooked Thai Noodles - reasonable while it lasts, but leaves you unsatisfied.

Rating: 2.5/5