Tunnel of darkness called Kaminey. Review on Kaminey

When I read the advance reviews of the critics on the movie that came out on Wed, I was pretty excited to catch the flick on the first day itself and so I booked my tickets in advance too for the morning show. Well whats my reaction??

The movie, to a large extent lives up to the expectations in terms of screenplay and the performances. As widely known by now, the story is set in a period of 24 hrs in the lives of twins, Charlie and Guddu, as different as chalk and cheese. They were the closest of siblings till the cruel death of their father makes a sharp divide between them and they end up hating each others' guts for the rest of their young lives.

Guddu is a simpleton who finds salvation in working with an NGO dancing to anti aids street shows but in own moments of intimacy, passion takes over or rather the wilful spirit of Priyanka aka Sweety takes over and she ends up impregnated by the effort. Thus follows a cat and mouse game between the gang lords of the underbelly of Mumbai and the 2 brothers are caught in the cross fire as the price catch of a guitar full of cocaine flies from one camp to another.

Around this basic premise, Vishal Bhardwaj who made that special film called Makdee way back before Beedi jalaile etc, spins an adroit screenplay where there are multiple characters and multiple situations and yet he manages to keep the plot and happenings in coherent order. The iflm belongs entirely to the writers and the people who have conceptualised the movie on the writing board. It is rich in twists and turns that keep the viewer's interest sustained to a large extent.

But on the whole my complaint with the movie is excessive dark and brooding nature. It never crawls out of the alleys of the slums of Mumbai for a breather. It starts there, meanders there, chases there and remains there for the entire duration, making the landscape very monotonous and the proceedings get boring and claustophobic after a while.

Performance wise, Shahid pitches in a spirited performance . I preferred him personally as the sassy and rugged Charlie who dreams big, has repeated bouts of bad luck and emerges in the end a more humane and real man than the single shaded Guddu. Priyanka as Sweety is strictly mediocre. She overacts in scenes where she discovers she is pregnant and in a bid to portray a strong willed character, ends up as an unnecessarily loud accessory to the otherwise polished performance bouquet of the character artistes. She does not look good too, with her inflated lips.

Amol Gupte is the surefire winner of the film. He is brilliant as Bhope bhau, the ethnocentric chieftain of mumbai. The guy enacting the youngest Bengali brother is also credible. The supporting cast give very apt performances.

Music is rocking and very suited to the atmosphere of the movie, so is the cinematography. The sinister side of the city crawling with deceit and crime comes across very well. The plot is razor tight and one requires to pay attention to the proceedings to keep track of the wily machinations of the villain crowd.

The movie lacks in "complete entertainment" value. Its in the genre of films like Satya etc but Satya was a more balanced content. One goes in prepared for serious stuff, no doubt but its gets excessively dark and morbid after a while. The saving grace is the smart 1 liners that act as occasional lighteners. Go for some racy action(no heavy duty stuff, lots of desi stuff like guns bamboozing around and long chases) and if u really love Shahid. Definitely not for family outings/teenage dates. One will come out a bit depressd after this viewing!