Johnny Gaddaar (2007)

Despite reading some good reviews (I think Filmi Girl was one of them), I wasn't expecting much from this movie. There were various reasons for that. I've seen one other movie with Neil Nitin Mukesh (Aa Dekhen Zara), and I came away unimpressed with him. Rimii is alright, but not much of a lead heroine. Dharmendra just seems like he'd be over the hill. The soundtrack was unimpressive (to be nice).

And yet... the movie rocked.

It starts of quick enough... in the rain, you see someone running to a garage door. He fumbles with the keys, finally gets it open... and then gets shot. After that, the tale is told in flashback.

You have Neil Nitin Mukesh, who's character love Rimii. You soon find out that Rimii is married to Zakir Hussain, but really doesn't like him. Anyhow, there is a gang of 5 guys (Neil, Dharmendra, Zakir, Vinay Pathak, Daya Shetty). They do some illegal stuff... buying & selling goods and all that. They have a contact in the police as well (Govind Namdeo). Rimii & Neil are planning to run off to Canada as soon as they can get the money to do it. The gang gets a fairly good offer from Govind, provided they can come up with the money. Most of them have... Vinay Pathak has some problems. Zakir offers to buy his land, but Vinay refuses and ends up coming up with the money on the last day. In the meantime, Neil has had a change of heart... he decides he wants the money for himself (& Rimii).

And with that, the problems start. He tries to knock out Daya Shetty (who was taking the money to Govind), fails... and ends up killing him. This shocks Neil... it wasn't his plan... but sets in order a series of events that has him totally shocked at the outcome. This was not what he wanted when he decided to keep all the money to himself. And now he has to hide it from the rest of the group. People start dying. Enmities start showing up within the survivors of the group. Then fake money gets involved, Govind Namdeo shows up determined to find out what happened, and things just spiral out of control.

The movie isn't really a suspense, more like a "thriller". Maybe a bit of suspense about the beginning/end, but other than that, you see it all happening as it happens. What makes it work is a combination of the plot (amazing) and the acting (surprisingly good). It kind of made you feel for the guys of the gang, at least a little bit.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is solid. You really can't ask for much more from him. Zakir Hussain is yet again effective in a more-or-less negative role. Dharmendra hasn't lost it after all. Daya Shetty is good in a small role. I was really impressed by Vinay Pathak... especially with the unfortunateness that was Via Darjeeling still stuck in my mind. He played his role to perfection. The actresses were alright... I was most impressed by the one that played Vinay Pathak's wife.


I loved it. You should watch & love it too.