Despite the fact that director Farah Khan has tried her hands with all of Bollywood’s industrial tricks such as pairing together popular actors Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, bringing other household names of the industry such as Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Twinkle Khanna and self-proclaiming “Sheila Ki Jawani” as the ITEM SONG OF THE YEAR, none of these elements in Tees Maar Khan makes this movie worth going for to celebrate your Christmas 2010.
After receiving negative reviews from critics on her directorial debut “Main Hoon Na (2004)”, Khan made her comeback with “Om Shanti Om” in 2007. But, to a great disappointment again, she could not please the movie critics of India as Om Shanti Om had nothing more than Shahrukh Khan’s first six-packs and a title song with 37 Indian actors dancing to it.
While the expectations were really high for “Tees Maar Khan” following its promos and publicity stunts, Farah Khan’s third movie venture falls flat on the face of comedy and acting. Indeed, the movie lacks all cinematic elements required to at least make a film tolerable for 2.5 hours. But of course, spare the song “Sheila Ki Jawani” – the only appealing factor in the movie.
Even at the conclusion of the movie, you feel like the film is one hell of a tedious workout of a bad humor and extremely disappointing script.
Tees Maar Khan revolves around a conman Tarbez Mirza Khan (Akshay Kumar), who ever since his childhood, has remained notorious for his criminal activities. Atish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) is a superstar of Indian film industry in the film who dreams of grabbing the Oscar one day. Anya (Katrina Kapoor) is a wannabe actress and girlfriend of Tarbez. Raghu Ram plays another criminal eyeing to loot 10,000 kilograms of antiques being taken to government store from a local train.
Tarbez, more popularly known as Tees Maar Khan and “half Robin Hood” in India takes on the job to rob a non-stop train loaded with valuable antiques. In this quest, he cons the innocent villagers of Dhuliya for help by telling them that he will make a historical movie on their village. He also gets in the Academy Award dreamer Atish Kapoor to act in the lead role of his fake film and gets in Anya to do the lead heroine.
The movie unfolds further with clichéd screenplay, rich with loopholes and frustrating humor lines, and of course, poor execution and choreography.
The script by writers Shirish and Ashmit Kunder is laughable not because it’s literally funny but because there’s nothing to appreciate about. The dialogues are extremely weak, the punch lines are nothing but clichés one after the other. It was completely useless to make fun of the British now and then in the movie. It would’ve made some sense if only the script was taken care of properly. A blatantly placed signboard that reads “Bloody British Bank” is one example of unprofessional writing and execution.
Indeed, the film is one more example of a typical Farah Khan style of movie making.
It seems like director Farah Khan got carried away by her star cast so much that she completely forgot that it’s the story and the execution of the film that makes it worth dying for. She should’ve realized this long back as even after having 37 actors dance to the title song of her last film, Om Shanti Om, the movie didn’t get critically acclaimed from any corner.
Also, it looks like Khan put in all her efforts into choreographing the song “Sheila Ki Jawani” to such an extent that she forgot to look after rest of the plots in the movie.
Vishal and Shekhar should’ve focused more on music direction than having their own cameo appearance in the film. Salman Khan’s guest appearance in the song “Wallah Re Wallah” wasn’t at all needed. The whole Oscar ceremony at the end of the film is truly overrated.
It’s high time for Akshay Kumar to realize that he’s degrading himself as an actor in every movie. If he’s taking acting too lightly, he should rather limit himself to doing reality shows like “Master Chef India” ongoing at Star Plus. Katrina Kaif really needs to come out of her plastic acting and seriously needs to improve her diction in Hindi. Having done so many Bollywood films by now, it’s a shame to repeat the same excuse that she was brought up in Britain.
In a nutshell, Tees Maar Khan is a combination of too much of absurd comedy, lack of emotions, over-the-top characters, unbelievable script and worse execution. Sadly, the film which begins as a burlesque remains a burlesque till its very end: A complete waste of time and so not Paisa Wasool. Watch it at your own risks. You’ve been forewarned!
Presently being screened at QFX.
Related story
From Best to Worst: A Last Look Back at Asia 2022
