Masand's Verdict: Not worth taking a Risk

AT YOUR OWN COST: Whatever little talent and skill that's up on display in this film seems like a waste.

      

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Cast: Randeep Hooda, Vinod Khanna, Tanushree Dutta

Direction: Vishram Sawant

Now the thing about director Vishram Sawant's Risk which opens at cinemas this weekend is that you've seen it all before. It's the story of an upright cop played by Randeep Hooda, who will go to any lengths - and I mean any lengths - to bring down the underworld, and in particular, one exiled don, Vinod Khanna.

Now between two of Ramgopal Varma's genius underworld sagas Satya and Company and Sawant's own previous film D, we've seen just about everything there is to see about the sometimes fragile relationship between the underworld and the police.

As a result, Risk covers absolutely no new ground. What's odd is, while watching the film you get the distinct feeling that the director isn't even trying to involve you in the plot, because there's hardly any plot to speak of.

He kind of expects that you get the drift because you've seen all the earlier films of the same genre, and he attempts to woo you with his compelling style of storytelling instead.

In all fairness, Sawant uses both cinematography and editing assertively, giving you images and sequences that are original and memorable.

Unfortunately however, even his strong command over the technical departments can't make up for the misery you must endure in the name of plot.

No review of Risk can be complete without a mention of its violent scenes. Now I don't usually have a problem with violence if it's integral to the plot of the film, and to be fair, a film like this about an encounter specialist cop is bound to have its fair share of blood and gore.

Despite being prepared for that, I still came away thinking Risk is just way too gruesome, and that a lot of the violence in this film is simply gratuitous.

The shootout scenes in this film aren't your typical Bollywood action scenes to which - quite frankly - nobody ever bats an eyelid because they're so unreal and so obviously choreographed.

But the violence in Risk is a lot more raw and realistic. And because it's backed up by such superior sound design, you can hear every stab so clearly - you can pretty much feel the metal piercing flesh.

Every single gunshot echoes in your ear. Now in a more sensible film, I wouldn't raise any objection, but the problem with Risk is that it's one of the most pointless films I've seen in a long, long time.