Genre: Mystery/ Thriller

Release Date: 1st April, 2011

Runtime: 130 minutes

Director: Abhinay Deo

Writer: Althea Delmas Kaushal, Farhan Akhtar

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Boman Irani, Jimmy Shergill, Anupam Kher, Gauhar Khan

Language: Hindi

 

Rating: 2/5

 

The game begins when reclusive business tycoon Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) invites four strangers from around the world to the Greek island of Samos- his home. The players are a corrupt prime ministerial candidate from Thailand (Boman Irani), a Bollywood star with a dark past (Jimmy Shergill), a drug runner from Istanbul (Abhishek Bachchan) and a young journalist from London (Shahana Goswami). Each has a common skeleton in their closet.

 

But when the game turns into a closed-door murder mystery, Interpol cop Sia Agnihotri (Kangana Ranaut) is brought in to pull the plug and inspect the pieces. Can she fit the clues to the crime as well as she fits in those suits? Can we mute the screen when she reiterates the obvious and leads us down blind alleys?

 

And is the game really over for our players? 

 

Surely not. As the tagline sagely states, ‘it’s not over till it’s over’. Which only means that the investigation will be bogged down by flashbacks and any resolution will be denied till other minor mysteries are solved – like what keeps happening to Ranaut’s accent? And is the Junior B really bold enough to straddle a negative role at this point in his career?

 

Thankfully, with only two or three song-sequences to break the pace, it’s easy enough to stick around till the credits roll. All questions will be answered by the end, except those related to Ranaut’s performance. And the murder investigation will get as many twists as befits an episode of CSI. By Hindi film standards, that is quite a few.

 

It’s not a very involving Game; it’s a paint-by-numbers whodunit with paper thin characters that elicit no emotional response. But it has a mostly plausible plot that keeps you guessing. If that sounds like fun, then game on.