Ek Ajnabee - Fast, Rocking, Stylish - But Yeh Dil Mange More (Reviewer: Lallan Singh)

The movie starts in style - You have pacy beats accompanying, "They don't know.....Who is he..." with Bachhan looking uber chic in white shirt, jeans, blazer and cool shades. Nothing would suit him better.

He cracks the scene with another stellar performance - be it the silent, suicidal, boozing ex serviceman or the super stylish avenger on a ramapage - his range is fantastic and sincerity of effort superb.

You meet Arjun Rampal who is the flambouyant ex-army, boozing, smoking, fooling around with women with all that stylish brawn, scrubby stubble and tattoos. Acts well, he is one of the better model-actors around and is commendable in one-on-one shots with Bachchan.

You meet the kid who displays a range of emotions and actually matches upto Bachchan in close-up histrionics where the face fills the whole screen and no twitch of the eye goes unnoticed. She pulls it all off superbly and never seems to be perturbed by the God status of the man, she is standing infront of.

You meet the tycoon couple - Perizad, who is sincere; in the beginning she seems to be in awe of Big B and slightly out of her shoes but later on, she pulls off a wronged mother with ease.

Vikram Chatwal is insipid.

Side cast as in Kelly Dorgee and Raj Zutshi don't have much to do and while Raj pulls it off well, Kelly stammers his way through.

First half begins with Bachchan's aloof, silent act while the kid starts growing on him. The chemistry comes up well. Also, we are introduced to why the colonel is as big a stud as he is said to be and why he is perennially with the bottle.

Second half is Bachchan driven by vendetta, coupling some professional no-nonsence pursuit of baddies with an intricate plot which folds and unfolds before it finally lights up.

Action scenes are cool, with Bachchan giving some modern age Hollywoodesque no-unnecessary-fuss-to-killing display. He tortures, taunts and dares and finally slays but thats very stylishly done and nowhere does it become drab. He even matches Arjun in a fist fight and manages kicks upto his height - no mean feat at 63.

Overall, nothing outright bad about the movie - though the hollywood look and feel may just go against it. The plot is a bit intricate but you may always argue that the movie makes you think about the story even after you get out of the theater.

Its probably the dictats of the modern day cinema or the current controlled performance trend - at places you do feel that Bachchan could have been more fierce as the veteran out to avenge his sweet angel - probably, its the hangover of the old Bachchan era. Mind you, nowehere does Bachchan lack in intensity but you expect the cinema screen to explode when Bachchan is on ramapage - somehow, that fire seems a shade controlled and restrained. The culprit is Mr Lakhiya's characterization.

All in all, a nice movie. Will watch it again soon. Just a lingering feeling of "Yeh dil mange more", but then you can't blame me if I expect the world of the Big B.

"They don't know....who is He..." seems to sum it all up.