Weak Patti
By: Amit R Agarwal
After watching Amitabh Bachchan in Paa and Rann; I wondered what made him do Teen Patti?
I also wondered, what made Sir Ben Kingsley sign Teen Patti - may be the charm of working with the Superstar of the Millennium?
May be!
Teen Patti is a perfect example of how pathetic-directionless-senseless writing can mar the prospects of a good story, being made into a supposedly good film. The culprits no doubt are Leena Yadav and Shiv Subramaniam, the writers.
Teen Patti tells the story of an unacknowledged genius, Venkat (Amitabh Bachchan). A professor, he is frowned upon by his own colleagues for his unusual approach and thinking.
The film opens with him cracking a theory that would redefine the principles of probability. Venkat is encouraged to test this theory in the real world by a junior professor, Shantanu (Madhavan).
They pick out three bright students and off they go to test the theory - risking their lives. While the first encounter leaves them short of being killed by a goon, Dagdu Popat(Mahesh Manjrekar) and his cronies; it excites the youngsters enough to try out a second time; much to the dismay of Venkat.
With code decoded to win easy money on Teen Patti - the members face their own tests in form of greed and lust. Will good win over bad?
Teen Patti.
The film's narrative unfolds with Bachchan telling the story to Sir Ben; as he recieves the world's top honour at Cambridge for applied mathematics. Truly, the sheer pleasure of watching these two share screen-space would give any audience goosebumps - but that's about it.
One question though, which a man in the audience asked me and I had no answer to - the hot girl in Neeyat number - was she Amrit Maghera?
What rocks the movie:
Amitabh Bachchan, inspite of an ill-etched role.
Sir Ben Kingsley.
A few sequences
What chucks the movie:
Writing - and that makes for a big flaw - the movie.
VERDICT
Only recommended for those who are die-hard Bachchan fans or want to watch two icons - Sir Ben and Bachchan - together.
For the rest, it is a big disappointment - and yes, those who bought tickets - as a few guys did in the show I watched - to watch a smooch scene that showed in the promo, disappointment - its not there!