Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sir Ben Kingsley,R Madhavan,Raima Sen,Dhruv Ganesh, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar, Saira Mohan, Sharadha Kapoor, Danny Denzongpa, Sushmita Sen, Ajay Devgan, Jackie Shroff, Mahesh Manjrekar, Irrfan Khan,Boman Irani,Tinu Anand,Shakti Kapoor, Ganesh Yadav, Meeta Vasisht, Pankaj Jha, Ranjeet
Director: Leena Yadav
Even though our planet Earth provides enough for the needs of every individual, yet we all think that what we have is never enough and become greedy. The desires force you to gamble, not on the gambling table but in real life as well. Teen Patti is a roller coaster ride, which tells a story of gambling in real life and its effects.
Greed and dishonesty was certainly an interesting issue for director Leela Yadav to make a film on but has she succeeded? Not really, to be frank. The problem lies with the script, which lacks clarity and is difficult to understand for an average viewer. So, although, the director has tried her level best, only a few people, who have above average intellect, will be able to understand what this tale of probability and mathematics is all about.
Further, apart from the story, its also the screenplay and the way story has been told, which is quite unconvincing.
The story is about an isolated genius Venkat (Amitabh Bachchan), who has devised a theory to define the principles of probability and randomness. And then there is professor Shantanu (Mahadevan), who encourages and helps Venkat to try this theory in real life.
Despite the fact that Venkat has no interest either in gambling or money that could come through it, he gives into the pressure by Shantanu and tries his theory in Teen Patti or the game of cards. Venkat with the help of few students tries his hand at gambling at an underground gambling den of Mumbai and what started as an experiment soon becomes something, which is out of control for everyone.
The film starts rather slowly and it takes time before you understand what’s happening on the screen, picking momentum only when the students come into picture. The interval of the film where, the mystery about the unknown caller deepens is the high point of the film and increases your interest in it.
The way the film moves back and forth going into flashback time and again, also tends to confuse you at times. Moreover, as it has been already said, the film starts slowly. But the problem does not end here because apart from starting slowly, the film moves at a rather slow pace throughout.
Though, the story and the screen play of the film is generally weak, it has some high points. The scene, where the death of a student spoils the whole plan is very interesting and so is the speech in the end. But, apart from these high points, the film tends to get so boring at places that you feel a little irritated.
Teen Patti sends out a very strong message that the job of a director is not only to direct but tell the story in such a way that it attracts the attention of the viewer. Leela Yadav unfortunately fails in this task miserably. Even the music score by Salim-Sulaiman isn’t something you will remember for a long time. But, apart from that technicians like cinematographer Aseem Bajaj and choreographer Ashley Lobo have done a good job.
Again, like most films and characters that he has undertaken in his 40 year long career in Bollywood, after watching Amitabh Bachchan in Teen Patti, you cannot imagine anyone else taking up this role. As ever, Mr. Bachchan is incredible. And so is Madhavan. Some of the grey scenes performed by Madhavan stand out and show is acting caliber. Apart from these two, Rima Sen, Anjan Srivastava and Mahesh Manjrekar have all done justice to their roles.
Interestingly, whereas new actors like Shraddha, Dhruv and Vaibhav, who have made a debut in Teen Patti have been give a fair chance to showcase their talent, it’s the senior actors like Jackie Shroff, Ajay Devgn, Tinnu Anand and Shakti Kapoor, whose vast acting talent seems to be wasted in the film
The two leading actors of non-Indian origin Ben Kingsley and Barry John are excellent. In fact some of the scenes featuring both Ben Kingsley and Amitabh Bachchan are a treat to watch and are highlight of the film.
In totality Teen Patti is not a bad film. The only problem it has is that whereas Bollywood audiences go to watch movies only for entertainment, one wonders, how they will react to this film, which puts a little pressure on your intellect.
