'Chase', a thriller without fizz (Hindi Film Review; Rating: * 1/2)

Film: 'Chase'; Starring: Anuuj Saxena, Udita Goswami, Tareena Patel, Samir Kochhar, Gulshan Grover; Directed by Jagmohan Mundhra; Rating: * 1/2

Let the chase begin. The opening chase, which lasts approximately 10 minutes, is among the best slickness-on-skids situation styled for a Hindi film. And full marks to the people behind it. But soon after this pulse-racing start our hero, who also happens to be the film's producer, slips into a coma. Er....and so does the film.

Never quite sure of whether it wants to be a slick thriller or an espionage adventure saga the narrative just collapses in a heap of ineptly conceived situations about corrupt officials and honest investigators.

The outer-limit of ludicrousness is the nurse, played by the pretty Udita Goswami, in the shortest of skirts, trying to bring alive the comatose hero by slithering and sliding all over his inert body.

Wish someone would do a seductive dance over the narration.

Chase never quite overcomes the cheesy impulse, moving from one absurd episode to another, not quite the pacy thriller that one would think the introductory chase would lead us into.

To his credit Jagmohan Mundhra films some of the later stunts with some style. However the overall impression is that of a tired fugitive giving his shadow the chase.

The performances are uniformly amateurish. The cast includes the legendary Shammi Kapoor's son Aditya Raj Kapoor playing the kind of shady tycoon that went out of style with the action-dramas of Rajiv Rai.

Here's a film that has plenty of skidding wheels and is constantly on the movie.

But it still fails to move us. Except out of our seats for hastily moving towards the nearest exit for some fresh air.

Speaking of the great outdoors, there's a romantic song, totally out of place, shot picturesquely in Jammu and Kashmir.

Wish the rest of the over-edited film also had some breathing place.

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