Nireekshana Review

Nireekshana can only be enjoyed in the right atmosphere and ambience, so make sure you go to a theater with plush sofa seats and air conditioning. When you fall asleep half an hour into this astonishing drag of a cinematic venture, you'll bless yourself for having made one good decision at least.

The movie starts out with some promise, i. e., in a college with scantily-clad hot girls, which, as we all know, is just what the galli college scene in Hyderabad is like. Anu (Sridevi) is a goody-two-shoes college student and Monica, the local college don, whose habits include spreading vile rumors for lunch and playing perilous practical jokes for dinner. When Anu unwisely crosses swords with Monica and humiliates her in public, Monica vows sweet revenge.

Not an angel, and armed with the wrong kinda smarts, Monica now seeks to destroy our heroine. A few pithy phone calls later, this vamp has crumpled Anu's life like an old napkin and got the latter's father into a fit of apoplectic rage. Turning a deaf ear to Anu's pleas, her dad locks her up in a distant unused farmhouse, throws away the key, and pushes off to distant Delhi.

No one knows where Anu is, and when her dad has an accident and goes into a coma, a reward of five lakhs is announced for news of her whereabouts. Meanwhile, Anu is starving in captivity, and has no idea why her TV is blaring out news of her disappearance. She also doesn't have a cell phone, 'cos, well, she wouldn't want to reveal the gaping holes in the plot, now would she?

Meanwhile, Ravindra (Aryan Rajesh) is a fugitive on the run who happens to take shelter in the very farmhouse where our heroine is captive. He is a small-time con man who's too good for honest livelihoods, and wants, instead, to get rich quick and easy. A short-cut of a lifetime presents itself when he realizes that Anu has a hefty price on her head, and all he has to do is kidnap her and milk her rich dad dry.

His firm resolve is tested, however, by Anu's incessant preaching, her suicide attempts, and most of all, simply by his unfortunate casting as hero. Since he has to return to the Good Side at some point, why not do it when the heroine's watching, so you can fit in a duet? Yup, now you're thinking.

So rhyme, reason and rational thought go flying out through the plane window as our crew takes off to shoot in Europe, and the movie degenerates further into the quagmire of mind-numbing boredom. Large groups start to walk out of the theater almost apologetically. Almost, but not quite.

Ravindra tries to halt the exodus by giving 'em some action and beating up his ex-cronies. Anu's dad pitches in valiantly by waking up from his coma and revealing that he's behind the disappearance of his own daughter. The bad guys are apprehended by a bunch of policemen who provide comic relief first and law-and-order later. Anu pouts petitely and looks pretty throughout.

The acting isn't bad, but the confused narrative turns the half-decent plot askew. Loose ends stick out unmistakably like frayed seams. The music is catchy, but the songs lack timing and subtlety.

The movie is a remix of an assortment of older, better films, but even the flimsy cut-and-paste-job could have been much more refined. Watch it if you need a good three hours of undisturbed sleep.