Johnny Gaddaar (2007)

Fresh and Exciting

Fantastic!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A crime thriller drama which does not fail to entertain. tale of crime,betrayal and the judgement which is told in a simple manner without any unnecessary complications. Plot is based on team of five people who are involved in illegal businesses and how one of the acts hits back carrying danger to their own lives but not without being manipulated by one of their own and eventually how the justice is sought. the movie follows smoothly throughout and builds some nervy moments on the way. some very important scenes are shown in a very placid manner without any build up which in a way do not break seamless flow of the story and of course it does not contain any songs which don't serve any purpose and comes with a nice twist at the end. All the actors stick to their characters well.screenplay is robust and the performances and the direction are suited to it. this is one of the few watchable movies where the standard of the Bollywood movies is degrading day by day.

The fifth frame to hit the screen in Johnny Gaddar marks a dedication to Vijay Anand and James Hadley chase and the tributes just don't stop coming from the seventy style beginning on a fantastically remixed Johny Mera Naam theme to clips of parwana and even references to modern day thrillers to Scarface.Johnny Gaddar is an old fashioned double crossing thriller made with as much fun as the audience is expected to have. Five partners decide to buy in some smuggled good (possible some French antique – just like all self respecting gangster movies the viewer is never properly explained what the deal is about) one of them sees parwana and decides to get the entire pooled in 2.5 crore for himself except things go horribly wrong like they should and the body count begins to rise Unlike other gangster movies of recent times like Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local and d etc. the films antiheroes have style and families to look after. They are not hardened criminals yet very sleazy guys. Johnny gaddar is full of racy characters, violent situations and a cold calculating anti hero just like a James Hadley chase which has a provocative cover but is too slick to waste time on sex.The supporting cast is extremely good too with Vinay Pathak as a sleazy gambling den owner leading the way and Dharmendra as a 'respectable' retired smuggler stealing the scenes. Neil Nitin Mukesh as the suave anti hero remains expressionless for most of the film but then his role is one which demands it. You don't hate him for what he does for he fools you with his straight face but just wait for his next move which makes him one of the best anti heroes to hit the screens in recent memory.Prior to Johnny Gadaar u could only count jaane bhi do yaaron as a true cult film Bollywood ever produced but gaddar is without the cult of film of our times. From a zany background score to the keeps you guessing climax johhny Gadaar is highly recommended to those who love and know their movies. Bollywood if you can call it that is definitely moved a step closer to coming of age with this Johnny.Watch out for the Johny johny yes papa remix as the credits roll!!

There are movies, which were huge box-office hits in their times, and nobody remembers them now and there are movies which were not box-office hits at all, and if you look at the DVD business of them, it is superb. Johnny Gaddar as you might have guessed is in the later one category. This is one that kind of rare movie, even if you casually starts watching it for just five minutes, you might probably will end up with the end of the movie. Since Shriram (debuted as a director with Ek Hasina Thi) is both the writer and director of the movie I would give all credits to him. As the story and the direction is just flawless. As far as the rating goes I will give this movie 8 out of 10. A must watch.

Sriram raghavan may not be India's most famous director but he has come out one of the best movies of the last 3 or 4 years.The plot is good and the twists add to the strength of the film .As far as music is concerned , Shankar Ehsaan and Loy have come out with good tracks and the lyrics by jaideep sahni are good.Neil nitin mukesh gets a dream debut and makes most of his role Dharmendra is OK,not great.Vinay Pathak and Zakir hussain are very good.All in all , a very good movie experience. its 8 on 10 for this one from Sriram Raghavan.