Visfot explodes only with Sheeba Chaddha’s talent

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Sanjay Gupta has a penchant for adapting foreign films, usually of the violent variety. He also likes to visit the Mumbai underworld. And he usually blends one with the other. In some cases, his adaptations, official or otherwise, work for me, like in Zinda (which, however, did not do well). In most, they does not. A friendly suggestion, sir. Change your tracks! Be Indian, Make Indian!

And I must again repeat the axiom that a source of inspiration should be firstly well-considered. And this bizarre tale of crime and adultery is replete not just with blemishes but is also bland considering its title, Visfot, which means “explosion”!

A cabbie, Shoaib (Fardeen Khan) is content living within simple means with his old, ailing-from-Alzheimer’s Disease mother Roshan (Sheeba Chaddha). He has returned from working abroad to take care of her. One of his old friends, Manya (Nachiket Purnapatre) deals in drugs and cajoles him to do the same to live a lavish life. But Shoaib prefers the straight and narrow path.

However, when Manya leaves a jacket full of the stuff with Shoaib and there is an accidental fire in his home, the jacket disappears as several people have entered the premises. Now Manya threatens Shoaib as the booty is valued at two million. Shoaib’s waitress girlfriend Lucky (Krystal D’Souza) and mother will be killed if Shoaib cannot find the goods pronto.

In another corner of the city, pilot Akash (Riteish Deshmukh) is dropping his son Patty (Prithviraj Sarnaik) to school when, by chance, he spots his wife Tara (Priya Bapat) getting into a car and kissing someone. Distraught and furious, he follows the car to a hotel and then leaves his child at the restaurant where Lucky works and goes back to the venue to accost the ‘couple’.

But a chain of events makes Shoaib come to meet Lucky and the two leave for his house where the goons are waiting for the drugs. And Patty, who must accompany Lucky in whose charge Akash has left him, gets embroiled when Manya’s boss, Acid Tai (Seema Biswas) pays Shoaib a visit and tells him to get a ransom for the seemingly rich kid—of two crore (20 billion). That will compensate for the missing drugs—and more! And Shoaib will gets a 20 percent commission. Or else!

Meanwhile, Akash has caught Tara red-handed and he asks a friend, Waghmare, a suspended cop (Satyajeet Kadam) to help locate the child, whom they realize is missing now. Waghmare contacts another corrupt cop, Fernandes (Purnendu Bhattacharya) and they manage to find out vital info even as Shoaib is compelled by the gang to call up Akash for the ransom. After the demand, the two cops decide to share the moneys that they can recover from the goons!

The money is arranged by the hassled parents with great difficulty and Akash must come to Bandra Fort at night to pay it. There are twists before that and all ends fairly well for Shoaib, but for Akash, Tara and Patty, life will never be the same again.

Replete with coincidences, absurd moments aplenty, double-crosses and what-have-you, Visfot barely makes sense. The dull cinematographic tones and the jerky and always hyper-active camera moments (Shikhar Bhatnagar) add to our woes. Gupta’s movies at one time were known for decent music, but now we can barely bear the couple of songs that anoint the narrative. Director Kookie Gulati is not exactly known for sensible content and this one is no different. The script by the brothers Dalal—Abbas and Hussain—is as jerky and weird as the cinematography and editing and overall, I was no longer bothered about what happens to whom, who lives or dies and so on, long before the film ended.

I believe this was Fardeen Khan’s first signed comeback film, and he is decent, though there are areas where he falls short, especially in his angry expressions in the climax Krystal D’Souza has more of skin to show than substance but is alright. Priya Bapat scores high as Tara, and Riteish Deshmukh essays the emotional side well. The rest are adequate, but for Seema Biswas, who is quite hammy, and Sheeba Chaddha, who has upped her game with every role. By now, I do not think there is anything this redoubtable performer cannot do! In fact, she is the lone dazzling spot in this puerile exercise.

Rating: *1/2

Jio Cinema presents White Feather Films’ Visfot  Produced by: Anuradha Gupta & Sanjay Gupta Directed by: Kookie Gulati Written by; Abbas Dalal & Hussain Dalal  Music: Amjad-Nadeem Aamir Starring: Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Priya Bapat, Krystal D’Souza, Sheeba Chaddha, Seema Biswas, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Satyajeet Kadam, Prithviraj Sarnaik, Ayaz Khan, Neha Pednekar, Arjun Aneja, Nachiket Purnapatre, Vivaan Parashar Sp. App.: Sana Makbul & others