Rog
Movie
Review
Sometimes, a good idea can get ruined by inept
writing. Thatís exactly the case with ROG,
written by Mahesh Bhatt and directed by Himanshu
Brambhatt.
Frankly, after watching ROG, you fail to
understand the motive behind making the film. If
itís meant to catch the fancy of the multiplex
crowd/elite, sorry, thereís very little to
excite them. If itís aimed at the masses,
thereís scant entertainment in the film.
In short, ROG is a tedious exercise that tests
the patience of the viewer!
Uday Singh Rathod [Irrfan Khan] is an honest
police inspector, rather a super-cop, quite
famed for his brilliant investigative mind.
Following the murder of a model, Maya Solomon
[South Africa-based model Ilene Hamann], Rathod
is handed over the charge of the case. Thus
begins Rathodís unusual journey.
A well-known journalist Harsh [Suhel Seth], a
rich party-animal Ali [Himanshu Malik] and his
companion Shyamoli [Shyamoli Varma] are
short-listed as chief suspects. Rathod works day
in and day out to get the mystery solved,
eventually falling in love with the dead Maya.
However, Rathod gets the shock of his life when
Maya resurfaces one night. If Maya is alive, who
had been shot dead that night? And what was the
motive behind the murder?
What couldíve been an edge-of-the-seat thriller
loses focus soon after the principal characters
are introduced. Making the cop fall in love with
the model, who everyone thinks is murdered, was
a novel idea, but all that the cop does after
meeting the prime suspects is look at the
modelís photograph and gulp liquor.
When Ilene suddenly shows up minutes before the
intermission, you expect things to improve. But
post-interval, ROG falls to an all-time low. The
story never moves, in fact it gets weird where
the suspects throw a party, then the cop and the
model jump on the bed. And then, suddenly, the
cop realizes who the actual murderer is!
Thatís not all! The climax Ė which shouldíve
been the highpoint of this murder mystery Ė is
so tame and lifeless that whatever impact a few
sequences mustíve generated just evaporate as
quickly. Even when the identity of the murderer
is revealed, it just doesnít come as a shock,
partly because of the shoddy screenplay.
Ideally, ROG shouldíve been a songless affair,
but the two/three songs that come up in the
post-interval portions only test the patience of
the viewer. In fact, the songs should be deleted
rightaway for a better impact.
Besides Mahesh Bhattís faulty writing, the film
also suffers thanks to the lethargic pace the
story moves at, sorry, inches forward. To state
that the film is extremely slow-paced would be
putting it mildly.
Himashu Brambhattís direction is as lackluster
as the script. M.M. Kreemís music may sound
pleasing to the ears, but when viewed with the
story, itís an absolute no-no. Cinematography [Anshuman
Mahaley] is alright. Dialogues [Niranjan Iyengar,
Subodh Chopra] are philosophical.
Irrfan Khan pulls off his part with admirable
ease and poise. He is just perfect. Ilene Hamann
has good screen presence, but she is
expressionless in most situations. Himanshu
Malik is strictly okay, whereas Munish Makhija
[as Rathodís comrade-in-arm Munna] irritates.
Suhel Seth is a revelation. He is the best of
the lot. Shyamoli Varma is quite nice.
On the whole, ROG is neither a sleaze-fest, nor
is it a scriptural gem. At the box-office, itís
a non-starter.