Kaante arrives amid great excitement and expectation and I can almost hear the knives being sharpened for the feast that most critics would like to have..because, anything BIG must be reduced to rubble, such is our mentality. I would say that I myself was ready to crucify the film because Sanjay Gupta has never held any allure for me as a director. So far, he has produced sub-standard rip-offs of foreign films, be it Aatish, Khauff, Kartoos or Jung. My biggest grouse was that there was nothing original about any of his films and hence, where is the talent in “directing” a film if the whole concept is “lifted” from a Hollywood film. I have had to rethink my ideas in the light of Abbas Mustaan’s efforts, who are no better in lifting films from foreign thrillers and adapting them to Bollywood. Why are their efforts more accessible and not Gupta’s. The answer lies in the fact that Gupta’s films have actually been rather dire adaptations of Hollywood flicks whereas Abbas Mustaan have managed to make some of their films somewhat accessible to Indian audiences.

But there is hope. Pritish Nandy states that Kaante is not inspired by “Reservoir Dogs” which had me chuckling away at the man’s gall to stare you in the face and make a comment like that. Perhaps what he meant was that it also has elements of the Usual Suspects in it as well. For those who have seen that cult classic, Kaante is much more than a mere inspiration of Reservoir dogs but a film which Gupta has adapted and made with tremendous style and energy.

The film opens with the close ups of six people. Major (Amitabh), Ajju (Sanjay Dutt), Mak (Lucky Ali), Balli (Mahesh Manjrekar), Mark (Sunil Shetty) and Andy (Kumar Gaurav). All engaged in a discussion about Indians in America, about discrimination, about being persecuted. These are men on the outside, not just by virtue of the fact that they are Indians living in a foreign land but as it turns out, each have their own crosses to bear. The voice over tells us that this is not a journey of hope, but that the doom that pervades these characters shall triumph. These outsiders will not find the road home.

As the camera pans, you realise that all six are in a jail cell, planning a heist. It is Ajju’s plan to hit back at the bank that the police in America bank in..the American Services Bank. If there is any interest, then they are all to meet up in the evening. We then lapse back to how these people happened to be thrown together into one cell. Each of the six are picked up and investigated about the disappearance of a truck.

Major is working hard on a proposal which would enable him to make enough money to take his ailing wife (Rati Agnihotri) back to India but is treated with disdain. Just as he secures an appointment, he is picked up by the police, wanting information about the disappearance of a truck. Balli and Mak are together securing some drugs when they are picked up. Balli lives by his wits, has a mentally impaired sister in India and wants to makes deals wherever he can. This is survival in the under belly of Los Angeles. Mak is his docile partner, a no-hoper who tags along with Balli. Andy is a software engineer who has an acrimonious relationship with his wife and is devoted to his son. Ajju is a reckless character, living on the edge and Mark is a bouncer in a seedy strip joint where his girlfriend Lisa (Malaika Arora) is a pole dancer. Each needs money to escape their lives and the bank heist appears to be a good way out for each of them.

Planned to precision, the bank heist is almost successful until the team exits the bank to find a posse of police cars waiting for them. Blasting their way out by shooting at the cops, they all manage, one by one, to congregate at the warehouse where they are supposed to meet with the money. However, Mak has been wounded in the shoot out and Aju arrives back with a policeman who confirms their doubts, that one of the six is an undercover policeman. This prompts the six to embark on a journey of who the “mole” could be, ending in a bloody climax.

Gupta has put together a superlative effort in making a taut and gripping thriller, very much in the Hollywood genre and without any unnecessary scenes or characters thrown in. The structure of the film does not follow any set pattern used before in Bollywood and the scenes between the six are well executed and always engrossing. Gupta manages to bring substance and style without making the film like an MTV advert. He also manages to convey a sense of despondency, of desperation into the lives of these characters without melodrama or making any of it heavy handed. The worst scene of the film is in fact where the bank heist goes wrong and the subsequent shoot out. Here Gupta gives in to his desire for loud bangs, trucks destroying cars and Dutt sliding on the ground guns ablaze. A prolonged scene, you almost fear that the film will disintegrate into a climax similar to this but Gupta manages to get back on track straight after this scene. What is even more commendable about this is that it is precisely this kind of “action” scene that would have appealed to your average movie goer in India and to make the film more accessible to the masses, he could have contrived to add many such scenes. However, Gupta keeps to the straight and narrow and delivers what is a polished and focused film, made the way he wanted to and without obvious commercial considerations.

The performances are universally excellent from all the lead characters. Not one of them puts a foot wrong but it is almost Mahesh Manjrekar and Lucky Ali who steal the film..i say almost because these are first class performances. Amitabh Bachchan has now started to choose films well, something that he did not do after his hiatus from films. This is the character based role that he should be doing and he is in his element. Sanjay Dutt gives an effortless performance and despite being a producer of the film, does not hog screen time or give undue importance to his character. Sunil Shetty is also understated and gives a good performance as does Kumar Gaurav as the cog in the wheel, the software engineer without who the plan cannot be executed. Mahesh Manjrekar is superb as the low life with no redeeming qualities on the surface whilst Lucky ali underplays the role of Balli’s partner in crime.

Technically, the film is faultless, on par with any Hollywood film. The dialogues are excellent and the cinematography captures the essence of Los Angeles where this is shot without making it like a documentary for tourism, concentrating on the seedier side of L.A. Some may say that Gupta’s dances in the night clubs border on the vulgar but then, you can see that the film needs to show that most of these characters, except for the Major who has a certain finesse to him, are very close to the seedier side of life. Editing is first class and the soundtrack of the film does credit to Anand Raaj Anand for creating, with other guest music directors, an excellent score. Sadly, for music lovers, it is best if you close your eyes and listen to “Mahi ve” a superb tune which is unfortunately set to pole dancing and close up of parts of anatomy that we could well have done without. Rama re, Socha na tha, yaar mangiya and even chhor na re are all standouts apart from Mahi ve.

With a great cast, excellent music and a huge canvas, you would think that this is a film for the masses...Well, I hope that it will do well but it is not your conventional action film at all...in fact, I would not classify it as an action film but a thriller. I do not think that it is a film which will be accessible to audiences in the interiors and is basically a city film. However, the film appears to have got off to a good start in America. Media Partners and Bollywood Pictures opened the film in just 26 theatres but grossed $425,975 for a sizzling $16,384 per screen average.