'The Xpose' review: A wooden Himesh Reshammiya makes a caricature of '60s thrillers

Cast: Himesh Reshammiya, Zoya Afroz, Ananth Mahadevan, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Sonali Raut, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Bharat Dhabolkar, Jesse Randhawa, Rajesh Sharma

Director: Ananth Mahadevan

Rating: 1.5/5

What genre does a film fall in, if the hero always enters a scene in slow-motion? And what if the accompanying ear-splitting background score makes an entrance before him?

Imagine this: A decadent party after an glitzy awards function in the swingin' '60s in 'Bombay'. Jealous actresses, conniving musicians, sleazy producers, desperate directors and egoistic actors. Amidst 'The Great Gatsby'-inspired soiree, a beautiful actress is murdered. Who did it? And who did it THRICE? Yes. You read it right.

The characters are introduced one by one at the heroine's funeral, in a most dramatic manner. The story, narrated by Irrfan Khan (who makes a cameo appearance), is straight-forward enough -- for the first 15 minutes, that is. After that, we are wondering what steroids Himesh Reshammiya's ego was on. Because CLEARLY the film is for, by and about Reshammiya.

The film revolves around a cop-turned-actor (!) Ravi Kumar, who gets very angry, very quickly. He even shoots a politician point blank in his police station, on duty, just because he pisses him off. True story.

After he's convicted of manslaughter (the politician survives. Don't ask why) and does his time in jail for a couple of years, director Subba Prasad, portrayed by Anant Mahadevan (who won a National Award for scripting the critically-acclaimed Marathi film 'Mee Sindhutai Sapkal'), asks him to star in his south-Indian film. An overnight success, both Ravi Kumar and Subba Prasad now look to Bollywood.

During all this hullabaloo, Reshammiya manages to maintain a uniform poker-face. Love, hate, sadness, pity, acting, hero-worship, constipation -- all have one single look.

One of the hilarious things about the film are its dialogues. Unintentionally funny and delivered with all-seriousness, they make up for the lack of script and acting by the leads. Here are a few examples:

Random journalist: Sir, Bombay aake kaisa lag raha hai?

Ravi Kumar: Bombay se poocho kaisa lag raha hai mujhse mil ke.

*awkward silence*

Assistant director hands Ravi Kumar a script.

Shrugs it off.

Ravi Kumar: Main jo bolta hoon, wohi script ban jaati hai.

*facepalm*

There are other fringe characters as well -- Yo Yo Honey Singh, as the crooked musician, Jesse Randhawa as the statuesque but aging filmmaker, Bharat Dabholkar as the sleazy producer and newbies Zoya Afroz and Sonali Raut as rival actresses. While Singh's performance is below-average bordering on forced, Randhawa is cool and collected. Dabholkar, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain are perfect in the tiny roles. New actresses Afroz and Raut are adequate -- though the latter has a better screen presence.

But there's more to the film than the motley of characters and a weak story. The styling, for one, is brilliant, and everyone sports slick, '60s-inspired outfits and hairdos. The cinematography is fresh, and Reshammiya's music definitely deserves a round of applause. We were especially taken by the song, 'Sheeshe ka samanndar, paani ki deewarein' sung by Rekha Bhardwaj.

Go watch it if you must, though we think the television news channels are offering better entertainment this weekend.