tezz movie reviews 2012
Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Boman Irani
The word
Tezz
has different connotations. It means speedy and it also implies sharp.
While Priyadarshan's action thriller undoubtedly is life in the fast
lane, one can't essentially say it's a sharp story. But it isn't blunt
either!Aakash (Ajay Devgn) has set bombs on a train speeding from
London to
Glasgow.
Retired counter-terrorism officer Arjun Khanna (Anil Kapoor) is
summoned to investigate the case. As Arjun tries to negotiate with
Aakash, he simultaneously attempts to trace his whereabouts.
Unlike the more recent Hollywood train-thrillers like
Unstoppable (2010) or
The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009),
Tezz derives its soul from Keanu Reeves'
Speed (1994) and changes the conveyance from road to rail. Like the Keanu Reeves's film, even
Tezz employs the basic threat that the bombs on train will go off if the
speed falls below a certain limit.
However much against the potential of the plot, most of the action in
the film doesn't happen on or around the train. While the focus
essentially is on the one-upmanship between
Anil Kapoor and
Ajay Devgn
with the pursuit shifting positions between land and water, one would
have loved to see more of rail in the film beyond its external ariel
shots. Alas the maximum adventure that one gets to see on the train is
an attempt to shift passengers to a parallel locomotive - an idea as
old as
The Burning Train (1980).
However the major drawback of
Tezz
is that the motive behind the entire train takeover seems too weak.
It's not a terrorist operation but a man's vengeance against a country.
A country that deported him for being an illegal immigrant and working
without permit!
Tezz
tries to set its entire train-seize drama on such trivial grounds. With
Ajay Devgn being the main lead, the antagonist is still the hero of the
film and so he is not defined as a professional criminal but is doing
the one-off operation for seeking revenge. Now that's like having one's
cake and eating it too. The director wants you to sympathize with the
antagonist and yet maintain that his method is wrong. Supporting
characters (Zayed Khan, Sameera Reddy) are inducted in the plot with
the same conflicts.
The pacing of the film is in absolute
accordance with the title and the narrative runs as relentlessly as the
locomotive. The past-describing prologue doesn't run beyond 90 seconds
and the film comes to point pretty fast with the train hijack starting
within the first 10 minutes. With that Robin Bhatt steers away from any
surplus in the screenplay but, at the same time, the characters and
their conflicts also appear underdeveloped. There are no background
accounts of Zayed or Sameera beyond a fleeting flashback scene. And
with lines like '
izzat milti nahi, cheen ni padti hain' and '
bhugatna poore kaum ko padta hain', Aditya Dhar's dialogues run in the conventional domain.
Thereby it's left to the action sequences (not involving the train) to
keep you riveted and they do so to a good extent. Even the chase scenes
are well-shot and don't appear disturbing or distracting like in most
action movies. Evidently, the action boils down to a traditional
fistfight in the end as per
Bollywood prerequisites. However,
Priyadarshan
adds such dexterity to the drama and pace to proceedings that it, more
or less, compensates for the conventionalism in the chronicle.
Despite a sulking pout, Ajay Devgn pulls off his intense character with
effortless ease. Anil Kapoor is in his elements and his energy adds
life to the proceedings.
Boman Irani is efficient as the train traffic-control officer.
Zayed Khan and
Sameera Reddy
are aptly employed with less acting and more action. Mohanlal, as an
officer aboard the train, is visible as much (or less) as the train.
Kangna Ranaut doesn't get much scope. Mallika Sherawat's sex-appeal as the item girl is stale.
At the end,
Tezz is fast enough for you to keep track of its inconsistencies and manages to reach its target.
Verdict: Above Average
