Race - brainless, good fun

From the first two minutes of Race - where an expensive car is blown up in a pretty impressive stunt you realise one thing.

This is one slick production. This is Dhoom ka chhota bhai (because the stars are chhota in comparison) but it's the same family of films. The hum Hollywood ke baap hain genre.

You have hot girls, ours are hotter
You have car chase, ours is faster.
And so on.

Abbas Mastan have built a rep as 'thriller' specialists. This one is set against the backdrop of the world of horse racing. The real race, however, is between Ranvir (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajiv (Akshaye Khanna).

The film is being battered by some for making no sense. But two points in Abbas-Mastan's defence. Things happen quickly, so you can overlook the implausible bits while in the theatre (later of course you will say yeh kyun aur woh kyun). Secondly, if you have seen 'Cash', which had NO STORY at all, you will appreciate how intelligent this film is!

Of course there are unnecessary item numbers galore. The only good song being Pehli Nazar by Atif Aslam. And Katrina Kaif can't act, or dance, to save her life. Neither can Sameera Reddy but hey. We know what they're in the film for!

The comedy track by Anil Kapoor (playing Inspector RD) is inane beyond imagination. But I laughed anyways. Johnny Lever, in a very brief appearance, also provides some ha has.

And, the makers of the film leave enough clues hanging here and there for you to guess the suspense. The biggest one being: can a hero ever really die before the interval?

Still I would say it's a good timepass film. I give it 3.5 stars. And just to clarify, this is my movie rating system:

5 stars: Amazing - wouldn't watching again
4 stars: Great - definitely should be watched, once
3 stars: Good, if looking for timepass
2 stars: Sad, catch it on TV sometime
1 star: Do not watch, even if someone pays you to!

Race is a 3 star film. But just because they tried to wrap up the loose ends and for the stunning beaches of Cape Town (which I am dying to visit, in this lifetime!) I give it .5 stars extra. Watch it and decide if I was too generous!