Talaash

The tough cop’s blue. Because he doesn’t have a clue. A car being speed-driven by a Bollywood hero has just crashed, smashed and plunged right into the sea. Was it a road accident? Or was there foul play? Alarmingly, there have been similar fatal crashes at the same spot but the traffic police hasn’t constructed a railing, a road divider, nothing. Strange.

More bizarre events follow in Talaash directed by Reema Kagti who also co-authored the script with Zoya Akhtar. But instead of being engrossed in the whodunwhat mystery thriller, you’re as flustered as the cop conducting the inquiry. Indeed, his scowl’s contagious. Like it or not, there are far too many loose threads, too many implausiblities and a deep dark atmosphere. Nothing wrong with being kept in the dark, but frequently events become so far-out (particularly the finale) that even Salvador Dali would have quivered with consternation. But surreally.

Quite clearly, the script’s the culprit. Information is repeated, footage is expended on dangling conversations at a barren oceanfront (wish Mumbai had some), and the characterisations lack shades. They’re either upset or extremely upset, except for a streetwalker who keeps smirking, while parading figure-flattering outfits of animal prints and floral patterns. She goes meoww (inaudibly) and exudes globs of the glamour quotient. That’s Kareena Kapoor, who brings in some relief to an otherwise drab, uninvolving affair. How you wish her role had been lengthier, stronger, sexier, a kind of Life of Pooh perhaps. Well, never mind.

In terms of the dramaturgy, there’s a shard of Robert Redford’s Ordinary People -- a long-married couple turn emotionally sterile after their little son’s death by drowning, in this case on a picnic boat. Then there’s an echo of L A Confidential in which the murder of a young actor sparks the shenanigans, not to forget a partly-lame lumpen element who takes to a small roller-skateboard a la Mazhar Khan in Ramesh Sippy’s Shaan.No point making a hoo-hah about originality. It’s dead.

Move on then with the grim top cop (Aamir Khan), who commences the probe into the death of the B-town hero (Anonymous Kumar). Also described as an encounter specialist, the cop becomes a roving Sherlock Holmes in Mumbai’s red-light area That means he meets up with a brothel madame wearing hair curlers so enormous that you worry about her head space. In addition, it starts baddies including the aforecited roller-skater(Nawazuddin Siddiqui), and a sad-eyed Mr Murugan lying on his death bed. No Quickgun, he!

Next: Since no headway’s being made in the investigations, the top cop sulks around home with his fretful wife (Rani Mukherjee). When a neighbourhood séance expert (Shernaz Patel) pops up he doesn’t like that either. So what does he like? Maybe, he’d like a wild and wanton relationship with Miss Glamour Kapoor. Wow. She even tempts him into a hotel boudoir but merely rustles his hair, as if checking for dandruff. Can’t reveal any more: suffice it to say, oh oh, what on earth is going yawn?

A slow-tempo baffler was surely not expected from Kagti, whose Honeymoon Travels was sufficiently frothy and bouncy. For reels and reels, Talaash remains stationary as if it was stuck in traffic. The visual look strives for realism but that’s about it – the red-light ambience has been seen to far more impactful effect in Dev D by Anurag Kashyap (who incidentally contributed some additional writing to this project). And the recurring use of Mumbai’s skyline by night, as transition points, are annoyingly cliched.

Ram Sampath’s song compositions are cool embellished by Javed Akhtar’s sensitive lyrics but the background score jars. At the outset, jazz works but the later symphony blasts are excessively obtrusive.

Of the cast, Shernaz Patel is unusually unconvicing. Expectedly, Aamir Khan dominates the show but is much too studied and mannered. The actor needs to let go and get spontaneous. Rani Mukherjee is morose to a fault. It’s a relief to see her actually easing up and laugh a couple of times.

Do yourself a favour then: see Talaash only if you believe that Aamir Khan can do no wrong. Otherwise you’ll be left with a sinking feeling.