Aamir

indya rating: 3.5/5

Aamir is all about Dr. Aamir Ali all the way and there are people placed to help him in his mission for the day.

Aamir (Rajeev Khandelwal) is a doctor who has returned home from London with lots of presents for his family. At the airport his name makes security personnel suspicious. At the exit, two men on bikes throw a phone at him and from there on Aamir is no longer the master of his destiny. The course of his day has been charted out by "the man on the phone" and his accomplices located in the slimiest lanes of Mumbai including a cabbie, a prostitute and some goons.

While most Bollywood movies are shot in pristine foreign locales, Aamir explores Mumbai unlike ever before. Alphonse Roy' cinematography is first rate and super sharp.

From dilapidated buildings to filthy toilets to shady and shabby warehouses and slums, all the locations make the film so real. The explicit and merciless butcher market scene will make you cringe in your seat.

The music by Amit Trivedi is mesmerizing and communicates what Aamir is thinking. The background score is in a different league altogether. The movie would be incomplete without it.

Debutant director Raj Kumar Gupta has made Aamir an edge of the seat thriller that we haven't seen in a long time. The director has absolute control over his movie as it races from one scene to another. Aamir may be a remake of Filipino film Cavite, but it takes guts and intelligence to remake a film like this in Bollywood and do a slick job at it.

Lastly, Rajeev Khandelwal excels and we must applaud him for breaking away from his TV image and making an unconventional debut. He succeeds in emoting and expressing Aamir's despair, surprise, anger, helplessness and strong resolve.

Aamir is a classy film which will make you think. It succeeds because it has no frills and thrives on its acting, direction and music. This fast paced, taut and gritty thriller can become a cult film and is strongly recommended.