Gupta's Musafir is the new face of Bollywood. Slick, pacy and aspiring to beat Hollywood at its own game. But originality is lacking with Musafir being a regurgitation of Oliver Stone's U Turn and following a style used by Peckinpah in the past and Tarantino of late. Musafir is a cheap rip off which is clear from the sheer vulgarity displayed in his camera shots and his penchant for having nubile babes gyrating in any form at any given time.

Lucky [Anil Kapoor] is a drifter, a small time crook who is looking for his final job from where he can have a new beginning. Having pulled off his last con, he watches his girlfriend [Koena Mitra] apply soap and suds to his merc while seeming to massage herself also. A ludicrously salacious sequence, we next find the two of them in a jacuzzi, our Anil now all waxed chest and all, moving with the times of today. Splashing in the water by himself, he is unaware that his wily tart of a girlfriend has already upped and absconded with the moolah. Now start the beginning of his problems.

The money that he had robbed belonged to a drug lord Billa [Sanjay Dutt], who offers Lucky a chance to redeem himself by doing a drug deal for Billa in essence, to buy himself a chance to live.

Lucky manages to pulls off the drug deal but manages to lose the drug lord's money yet again. In between all of this, we have another plot, that of the pouty and sultry Sameera Reddy, married to a brute of a man (Mahesh Manjrekar), who in turn makes him an offer that he murder his wife for him. Lucky hears out Manjrekar's side of the story and then Sameera's. She wants to scarper with his loot and both offer Lucky a chance to make back his lost money. However, not knowing which plan he is going to take up, Lucky arrives at his place only to find the sultry siren having killed her abusive husband and ready to abscond with Lucky and the loot. Could it be that the sultry siren is the conniving and manipulating maneater that her husband had made her out to be?

Stylistically, Musafir is brilliant. Gupta infuses the film with a pulsating narrative and the pace for the first half of the film keeps the heartbeat raring to keep up. But post interval, we have the unnecessary addition of songs which slows down proceedings and one is left fidgeting somewhat. Furthermore, there are too many plot developments and characters introudcued which tends to slacken the pace further and get away from its central theme. In fact, you may wonder what is the central plot there are so many whizzing about in the hotch potch of evil. Technically, this film is on par with Hollywood and had it not been so obviously inspired by U turn, one may have been able to give greater credit to what is certainly a different film. Gupta doesn't really infuse the film with any depth, concerned more with style than content. What also detracts is the salacious scenes of women, skimpily clad, obviously placed to titillate the audience. A true auteur would not resort to such vulgarity.

Anil Kapoor carries the film and does this most ably. As an actor, he has aspired to do a variety of characters and this film proves his versatility. Sanjay Dutt in a small role also proves that he is out not for length but characters of interest. The only problem that Dutt faces today is being typecast as a hoodlum which is why Munnabhai was such a breath of fresh air. Sameera Reddy oozes sexuality but the film does not belong to her as was initially bandied about. She has a presence but still needs to go beond smouldering looks and a diabolical dialogue delivery. Mahesh Manjrekar is brilliant yet again as the sleazy hubby. Aditya Pancholi seems to make the proceedings more messy and perhaps his was a twist too many.

On the whole, MUSAFIR has style and verve. Music made no impression on me and one would have been happy to have done away with the songs altogether. I came away wit the memory of Billa's switchblade and not much else which speaks volumes for the film. Slick and smooth but imminently forgettable.